PREPARATIVE FRACTIONATION OF POLYSACCHARIDES BY COLUMNS PACKED WITH REGENERATED CELLULOSE GELS

Two kinds of regenerated cellulose microporous gel particles with mean pore sizes of 135 nm and 370 nm were satisfactorily prepared by mixin g cellulose cuoxam with polyethylene glycol (PEG) as pore former. A pr eparative size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) column (550 mmx20 mm) pa cked with the gel particles mentioned above was used for the fractiona tion of a dextran in water. The exclusion limit and fractionation rang e of the stationary phase were molecular masses 7.10(5) and 3.10(3)sim ilar to 7.10(5), respectively. The dextran (weight-average molecular m ass=7.14.10(4), polydispersity=2) was fractionated into ten fractions with molecular masses range from 4.10(4) to 1.10(5), which were analyz ed by an aqueous phase analytical SEC. A daily throughput of 6.5 g of the dextran was given with a flow-rate of 2.88 ml min(-1). The prepara tive SEC is simple, fast and cheap, and suitable for large-scale fract ionation of the polysaccharides and other biopolymers. (C) 1998 Elsevi er Science B.V. All rights reserved.