DETERMINATION OF POLYMER POLYDISPERSITY BY GEL-PERMEATION CHROMATOGRAPHY

A gel permeation chromatographic method for the determination of polymer polydispersity without the need for preliminary calibration with standards is proposed. Only the chromatogram of the sample under study is required, so the method is convenient for polydispersity investigations of new synthetic polymer materials. The universal dependence of the slope of the calibration graph on the distribution coefficient is used. For verification of the method, polystyrene standards were preliminarily mixed in certain proportions so that the polydispersities of these mixtures could be calculated initially, and then chromatograms of these mixtures were obtained for cross-checking. The proposed method was found to give satisfactory determinations of Mz/Mw, i.e., polymer polydispersity. © 1990.