Book excerpt: Mass Spectrometry (MS) has rapidly become an indispensable tool in polymer analysis, and modern MS today complements in many ways the structural data provided by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Infrared (IR) methods. Recent advances have sparked a growing interest in this field and established a need for a summary of progress made and results achieved. Mass Spectrometry of Polymers effectively fills this need. The discussion begins by introducing MS in detail, providing a historical perspective and a review of modern instrumentation and methods. The text then focuses on mathematical concepts and practical algorithms used in some of the major quantitative polymer applications of MS, providing a skillful prologue to polymer characterization techniques. Detailed chapters follow, describing the most relevant applications of MS to the analysis of polymers and the techniques currently employed. Authored by internationally recognized experts from academia and industry, Mass Spectrometry of Polymers is the only state-of-the-art work available that deals systematically with this rapidly emerging discipline, and will be useful to both novices and experienced practitioners in polymer MS.