The hindered diffusion of polystyrene in dilute solutions of ethyl acetate
through polyimide ultrafiltration membranes has been investigated. The pres
ent system did not show specific membrane-solute interactions; furthermore,
polystyrene can be considered as a flexible polymer coil. It is shown that
the hindered diffusive permeability for monodisperse dilute solutions for
a series of molecular weights can be compared well with the diffusive perme
ability curve of one polydisperse dilute polystyrene solution. In the case
of very dilute solutions, the polymer coils have no interaction with each o
ther, and the whole range of molecular-weight-dependent permeabilities can
be determined from only one measurement. The diffusion behavior of polydisp
erse solutions through various polyimide membranes has been investigated as
well. It was found that the diffusive permeability curve is strongly depen
dent on the type of membrane, that is, on the pore size distribution. It wa
s not possible to calculate a pore size distribution from diffusion experim
ents due to mathematical limitations. Nevertheless, it was shown that hinde
red diffusion measurements are useful to estimate a maximum pore size for e
ach membrane. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.