Polystyrene size-exclusion chromatography

Two classes of micron-sized stationary phases have been encountered in this section silica particles and cross-linked polymer resin beads. Both materials are porous, with pore sizes ranging from approximately 50 to 4000 A for silica particles and from 50 to 1,000,000 A for divinylbenzene cross-linked polystyrene resins. In size-exclusion chromatography, also called molecular-exclusion or gel-permeation chromatography, separation is based on the solute s ability to enter into the pores of the column packing. Smaller solutes spend proportionally more time within the pores and, consequently, take longer to elute from the column. 

Modern SEC columns are packed with material other than polystyrene gels, such as porous silica particles or highly cross-linked styrene-divinylbenzene copolymers. Because of improvements in speed and resolution, the term SEC is sometimes replaced by the term high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC). 

High-performance size exclusion chromatography is used for the characterization of copolymers, as well as for biopolymers (3). The packings for analyses of water-soluble polymers mainly consist of 5- to 10-/Am particles derived from deactivated silica or hydrophilic polymeric supports. For the investigation of organosoluble polymers, cross-linked polystyrene beads are still the column packing of choice. 

ASTM D 5296 - 92 (1994). Standard Test Method for Molecular Weight Averages and Moleeular Weight Distribution of Polystyrene by High Performance Size-Exclusion Chromatography. Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol.08.03, pp. 419-431. 

INTERACTIVE PROPERTIES OF POLYSTYRENE/DIVINYLBENZENE AND DIVINYLBENZENE-BASED COMMERCIAL SIZE EXCLUSION CHROMATOGRAPHY COLUMNS... 

Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) or size exclusion chromatography (SEC) has been routinely used to estimate die molecular weight of die polymers. The molecular weight measured by GPC is relative to a polymer standard, typically polystyrene GPC is dius a relative method rather than an absolute one. For those polymers whose structure is very different from polystyrene, GPC molecular weight values could significantly differ from the real ones. In those cases, GPC values should only be regarded as a reference. 

Figure 1. Size exclusion chromatography of Ru3(C0)i2 catalyzed polymerization of MeNH-[H2SiNMe]x-H as a function of time. Polystyrene standards used for calibration.

Determined by size exclusion chromatography with polystyrene standard in 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene dBranching density per 1000 carbons determined by H NMR... 

Novolac molecular weights were measured in THF at 35°C by high pressure size exclusion chromatography using a Waters Model 510 pump (flow rate=1.0 ml/min), 401 differential viscometer detector and a set of Dupont PSM 60 silanized columns. A universal calibration curve was obtained with a kit of 10 narrow molecular weight distribution, linear polystyrene standards from Toya Soda Company. Data acquisition and analysis were performed on an AT T 6312 computer using ASYST Unical 3.02 software supplied with the Viscotek instrument. 

Figure 9.2 Size exclusion chromatography traces for raw grafting products formed in the coupling reaction of chloromethylated polystyrene with polysty-ryllithium (a) without 1,1-diphenylethylene capping, and (b) with capped polystyryl anions (adapted from ref. [4])...

A variety of procedures were utilized to analyze this reaction mixture and to characterize a,10-diaminopolystyrene. Thin layer chromatographic analysis using toluene as eluent exhibited three spots with Rf values of 0.85, 0.09, and 0.05 which corresponded to polystyrene, poly(styryl)amine and a,w-diaminopolystyrene (see Figure 1). Pure samples of each of these products were obtained by silica gel column Chromatography of the crude reaction mixture initially using toluene as eluent [for polystyrene and poly(styryl)amine] followed by a methanol/toluene mixture (5/100 v/v) for the diamine. Size-exclusion chromatography could not be used to characterize the diamine since no peak was observed for this material, apparently because of the complication of physical adsorption to the column packing material. Therefore, the dibenzoyl derivative (eq. 5) was prepared and used for most of the analytical characterizations. 

Chromatographic approaches have been also used to separate nanoparticles from samples coupled to different detectors, such as ICP-MS, MS, DLS. The best known technique for size separation is size exclusion chromatography (SEC). A size exclusion column is packed with porous beads, as the stationary phase, which retain particles, depending on their size and shape. This method has been applied to the size characterization of quantum dots, single-walled carbon nanotubes, and polystyrene nanoparticles [168, 169]. Another approach is hydro-dynamic chromatography (HDC), which separates particles based on their hydro-dynamic radius. HDC has been connected to the most common UV-Vis detector for the size characterization of nanoparticles, colloidal suspensions, and biomolecules [170-172]. 

Several studies have been published which utilize size exclusion chromatography (SEC) for characterization of the molecular weight distribution of multi-arm structures of polystyrene, polyisoprene, and block copolymers of styrene/ butadiene and styrene/isoprene (1, 2, 8, 17, 25-26). An... 

The calibration standards included sodium form polystyrene sulfonates obtained from Pressure Chemical Co., Pittsburgh, Pa., and sodium toluene sulfonate. Measurements were taken at 0.5 to I.Oml/mln flow rates. The logarithm of the molecular weight of the standards was linear it suggests a framework for approaching an interpretion of the structure of the scission products. This application of size exclusion chromatography measurements must be viewed as a first approximation because of the unmeasured differences between the chromatographic behavior of the linear standards and the expected branched structure of the scission products. 

Determined by means of size exclusion chromatography (SEC) against polystyrene standards. 

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