Identification of flame retarding organic alkali metal salt additives in polycarbonate by flow injection electrospray ion trap mass spectrometry

Three commonly used flame retarding organic alkali metal salt additives in polycarbonate, potassium diphenylsulfone sulfonate, potassium perfluorobutane sulfonate and p-toluenesulfonic acid sodium salt could be simultaneously, quickly and conveniently identified in a polycarbonate sample by utilizing electrospray ion trap mass spectroscopy detection in flow injection mode after dissolution and precipitation of the polymer. The resulting method offered advantages of speed, selectivity and precision of identification based on two stage mass spectroscopy fragmentation patterns and mass spectral library matching for the three salts tested, and is likely to be applicable to other compounds of similar class.