Static light scattering detectors

Table 1 Weight-average molecular weights obtained by GPC with PS calibration, light-scattering (static method) and GPC with light-scattering detector (dynamic method).

These combined HDF and GPC separations require the use of detectors such as static light scattering or viscometers to help sort out the convoluted elution profiles seen in those type of experiments. It should also be remembered in these situations that the typical refractive index or ultraviolet detector responses may not be representative of the actual mass fraction of insolubles eluting from the column because of the significant light scattering that can occur with those large particles in the detector cell. 

The experimental techniques for the study of conformational branched properties in solution are the same as used for linear chains. These are, in particular, static and dynamic light scattering, small angle X-ray (SAXS) and small angle neutron (SANS) scattering methods, and common capillary viscometry. These methods are supported by osmotic pressure measurements and, nowadays extensively applied, size exclusion chromatography (SEC) in on-line combination with several detectors. These measurements result in a list of molecular parameters which are given in Table 1. 

The static laser light scattering apparatus used as an on-line GPC detector has been popular for a while. Here, we illustrate another but less known method of combining the results from (gel permeation chromatography) and DLS. The basic principle is as follows There is a similarity between these two tools in that the translational diffusion coefficient D obtained by DLS and the elution volume V in GPC are related to the hydrodynamic size of a given macromolecule. In a first approximation, if the hydrodynamic size is proportional to the molar mass, we have... 

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