F. Ding et al., Determination of the molecular mass distribution of synthetic polymers by size-exclusion electrochromatography, J CHROMAT A, 924(1-2), 2001, pp. 239-249
The performance of size-exclusion electrochromatography (SEEC) for the mass
distribution analysis of synthetic polymers was studied and compared to co
nventional, pressure-driven size-exclusion chromatography (SEC). Electroosm
otic flow control, within-day, day-to-day and column-to-column repeatabilit
y were determined for SEEC with respect to retention and separation efficie
ncy. It was shown that by using the retention ratio instead of the migratio
n time, the precision of the mass distribution calculations is sufficiently
high, and that similar distributions were obtained for a sample analyzed b
y pressure-driven SEC and by SEEC. Furthermore, hexafluoroisopropanol was d
emonstrated to be a new and potent solvent for SEEC. It was used for the se
paration of narrow poly methylmethacrylate standards and several commercial
ly important polymers such as polycarbonate, polycaprolactam and poly(ethyl
ene terephthalate), using UV detection in the deep UV region (195-230 nm).
(C) 2001 Elsevier Science BV All rights reserved.