Molecular weight and distribution of ultra-high molecular weight poly (p-phenyleneterephalamide)

The measurement of molecular weight (Mw) and distribution for ultra-high molecular weight poly (p-phenyleneterephalamide) (UHMWPPTA) is still a great challenge, because it is hardly dissolved in organic solvents normally to determine its Mw by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). In this paper, n-alkylated PPTAs with different molecular weight (including UHMWPPTA) were prepared by n-alkylation method. As the n-alkylated PPTAs with different length of alkyl chains, they can be dissolved in organic solvents such as tetrahydrofuran (THF). And the longer the alkyl side chains, the solubility is better. Molecular weight and of n-alkylated PPTAs were characterized by GPC with THF as eluent (MWGPC) and distibution was obtained by the weight molecular and number moleculr weight. The molecular weight of PPTA was measured in concentrated sulfuric acid by intrinsic viscosity measurement. The results showed a good linear relationship between them for PPTA with molecular weight from 10900 to 60800, which imply that molecular weight of UHMWPPTA could be measured by the GPC measurement of n-alkylation of PPTA.