Identification of polymer additives by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

LC-MS at different experimental conditions was used to construct a library of MS spectra of polymer additives. Combination of retention time information derived from the chromatogram with molecular mass and fragment ion information derived from MS and MS/MS was used for the identification of 20 additives. Mixtures of different additives and extracts of LDPE films were prepared and analyzed as unknowns. All 20 additives could be identified, 15 with 100% certainty.