Rapid Analysis of Microplastics

Join William Fatigante for this live virtual demo to examine microplastics in our environment. Bruker utilizes MALDI-TOF MS & DART technology to quantify and characterize polymer and the additives and leachable workflows. 

Webinar Highlights

Microplastics are small plastic particles (≤ 5mm) that result from both commercial product development and the breakdown of larger plastics.  Microplastics are abundant in our environment and come from variety of sources.  Commercial sources include cosmetics, clothing, and other textiles to other pieces of plastics such as water bottles that breakdown with radiation.  Currently microplastics have been detected at an alarming level in our marine life and drinking water.  

MALDI-TOF MS is a well-established method of polymer characterization and generates rich chemical information highly specific for polymer structural analysis, copolymer composition and complex polymer mixtures characterization, and can even be used for imaging of synthetic polymer surfaces.  It allows for rapid MS analysis where no prior sample treatment or extensive separation is needed, including characterization of challenging insoluble polymers. 

Addition of Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART)-high resolution mass spectrometry coupled with a thermal desorption and pyrolysis device allows for a rapid fingerprinting of environmental microplastics and the screening of additives.  This webinar will focus on a variety of plastic samples were investigated, including virgin pre-production pellets, microbeads from personal care products, microplastics found in the aquatic environment, and synthetic fibers. The resulting mass spectra display ~10,000 discrete peaks, corresponding to plastic additives released by thermal desorption.  

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to enhance your expertise and stay ahead of the curve. Register now to access the on-demand version of this must-watch webinar.

Bruker Live from the Lab: Rapid Analysis of Microplastics