Semi-automated multi-dimensional characterization of synthetic copolymers

Multi-dimensional high-throughput approaches are being transferred from biological to synthetic polymer systems due to the important increase of applications of polymers in life science. As a result, automated robotic spotting of poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline)s p(EtOx) was performed for the first time in combination with liquid adsorption chromatography at critical conditions (LACCC) and furthermore exploited for p(EtOx) block copolymers prepared for application as drug delivery systems. The LACCC is a complex and time-consuming process however, extremely helpful for the identification of the chemical functionality of polymers. The hyphenation between HPLC–MALDI-ToF MS via spotting and the subsequent analysis by ESI-Q-ToF MS/MS enabled the detailed characterization of side products occurring during the synthesis.