Analysis of Polystyrene Oligomers by Semi-micro GPC

Introduction

Application of Semi-Micro GPC

Semi-micro GPC analysis has the advantage in cutting cost by reducing the consumption of mobile phase. Columns with smaller particle sizes and reduced column dimensions are ideal for faster high performance analysis and provide economical and ecological advantages in reducing the consumption and disposal of the organic solvents required for GPC analysis.

Using the more efficient small particle size columns with faster separation at lower flow rates, together with a fast response detector that resolves the sharper eluted peaks, offers a much shorter measurement time. The RI-4035 refractive index detector with small flow cell volume and 100Hz response is optimized for the high-speed data acquisition required to resolve sharper peaks in semi-micro scale separations.

This report shows polystyrene oligomer analysis using a 3um GPC column designed for fast analysis. Separations made using the LC-4000 Series RHPLC system results in a 30% solvent saving compared to conventional separations with a 5um column.

Keywords

320010G, semi-micro GPC, HPLC, RHPLC, oligomer, polystyrene, RI-4035, refractive index detector

Results

Fig. 1  Chromatograms of polystyrene oligomers measured with an RI-4035 reractive index detector (and RI-2031 for conventional HPLC). The RI-4035 can be used for semi-micro separations and provides chromatograms with sharper peaks and improved peak resolution.

Fig. 2 Chromatograms of polystyrene oligomers using RI-4035 with response set to 0.3 and 3 seconds illustrating that a faster response provides better peak resolution.