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Introduction
Millions of tons of a great variety of polymers are synthesised every year to serve a multi-billion-Euro market. Responsible entrepreneurship of manufacturers of polymers and surface chemicals focuses the research efforts on environmental risk, biodegradability, sustainability, durability and optimisation of properties to fit the customers' needs. Mass spectrometry plays an important role in the characterisation of the polymers designed. Yet, a knowledge base and experience must be generated to facilitate the choice of experimental conditions for fast and accurate structural characterisation by multistage mass spectrometry.
 The POLY-MS project is a European Community funded Marie Curie early stage research training programme (MEST-CT-2005-021029) for six PhD students (positions are open). POLY-MS focuses on polymer characterisation using electron capture dissociation and collision-induced dissociation multistage mass spectrometry. The project consortium unites researchers with background in fundamental mass spectrometry, ion physics, quantum chemistry, separation techniques and applied innovation-focused research that can give impetus to the field of polymer analysis. All four partners in the project have extended experience in the field of mass spectrometry.
 Akzo Nobel NV is a multinational company that serves customers throughout the world with healthcare products, coatings and chemicals. The Company currently employs 64,000 people in more than 80 countries. 6000 people are employed in innovative research. In the analytical research of Akzo Nobel Chemicals (Arnhem, The Netherlands), mass spectrometry has been used for more than 30 years. Therefore, the molecular spectroscopy group led by Dr. Oscar van den Brink is equipped with state of the art mass spectrometric instrumentation. The group has extensive experience with mass spectrometry of synthetic polymers and synthetically modified biopolymers. In addition, the group houses the company's experts in high throughput experimentation.
 The FOM-Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) has more than 50 years of experience in the forefront of mass spectrometry and still plays a leading role in the field, now focussing on macromolecular ion physics and spatially resolved mass spectrometry. The application of high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry for structural characterisation has extensively been studied in the past. The research of electron capture dissociation for the structural analysis of (bio-)polymers as led by Prof. Dr. Ron M. A. Heeren at FOM-AMOLF forms a good basis for research training in synthetic polymer research.
 The Chemical Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Budapest, Hungary) has a large experience in mass spectrometry since 1952 and is one of the leading analytical centres. Prof. Dr. Károly Vékey is head of the Department of Mass Spectrometry. His field of research includes theoretical modelling of mass spectra, involving quantum chemistry and reaction kinetics, which is a strong basis for structure elucidation of polymers. He is the editor of the Journal of Mass Spectrometry and also he has been a member of the editorial boards of several international journals.
 The field of excellence of Prof. Marek Kowalczuk's group at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of Jan Dlugosz University (Czestochowa, Poland) includes multistage mass spectrometry and fragmentation analysis for characterisation of subtle molecular structure of both synthetic and synthetically modified natural polymers. The research group carries out research in areas of novel polymeric materials, in particular biodegradable and biocompatible polymers for medical and environmental applications and has a broad competence field with a very extensive co-operation with European universities. The research programme includes: chemical synthesis of model polymers via controlled "living" polymerisation and enzymes in vitro and determination of chemical structure-property relationships of polymers.
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