COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS OF CATIONIC POLYACRYLAMIDE RESINS BY REACTIVE PYROLYSIS-GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY IN THE PRESENCE OF ORGANIC ALKALI

Reactive pyrolysis-gas chromatography (PV-GC) in the presence of tetra methylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) was successfully applied to the compos itional analysis of cationic polyacrylamide (PAAm) resins, prepared fr om acrylamide (AAm) and dimethylaminoethylmethacrylate (DM). The react ive pyrolysis of cationic PAAm resulted only in hydrolysis of ester li nkages in DM units and did not lead to subsequent methylation of hydro lyzates and cyclization. The intense peak of 2-(dimethylamino)ethanol formed from DM units through the reactive pyrolysis was used as the ke y peak for the determination of DM content. The content of DM units in the cationic PAAm samples was determined with a precision of about 4% of relative standard deviations.