Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>A combination of electrospray ionization (ESI) and ion mobility mass spectrometry (IMMS) is used to successfully determine the characteristic ratio (<jats:italic>C</jats:italic><jats:sub>n</jats:sub>) of homopolymers and triblock copolymers. Two different copolymer systems are analyzed: a poly(ethylene glycol)/poly(propylene glycol) (PEG/PPG) and a poly(methyl acrylate)/poly(butyl acrylate) (PMA/PBA) based system. The monomer composition within the copolymers is chosen to be constant while changing the block sequence along the main chain, in order to ensure a reliable determination of the influence of the topology on the physical properties. It can be demonstrated that the block structure has a significant influence on <jats:italic>C</jats:italic><jats:sub>n</jats:sub> and therefore on the physical properties of the block copolymers. For both systems, the inner block dominates the overall physical properties.</jats:p>