Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (negative ion) and electrospray ionization (positive and negative ion) mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H NMR and 13 C NMR) were used to characterize the prepolymer (i.e.
uncrosslinked) poly(xylitol sebacate) (PXS), prepared by condensation of xylitol [X] and sebacic acid [S], and this was compared with poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS), prepared by condensation of glycerol [G] and [S]. The PXS prepolymer, prepared at 118 ∘ C/24 h, gave predominantly 1-acyl-[XS] and 1,5-diacyl-[SXS] species and smaller amounts of 2-acyl substitutions. At 130 ∘ C/24 h an increase of the amount of the 1-acyl and 1,5-diacyl substitutions in the [(SX) n ], [S(XS) n ] and [(XS) n X] series was identified, as was found for the analogous PGS prepolymer ([(SG) n ], [S(GS) n ] and [(GS) n G] series). Novel tetrahydrofuranyl species were found in the PXS prepolymer. Further polymerization of the PXS prepolymer gave a gel which when analysed using 13 C NMR was shown to mainly contain 1-acyl and 1,5-diacyl substitutions.