MOLECULAR-WEIGHT DISTRIBUTIONS OF WATER-SOLUBLE POLYELECTROLYTES - GEL-PERMEATION CHROMATOGRAPHY SPECTROPHOTOMETRY - LOW-ANGLE LASER-LIGHT SCATTERING

Recent developments in the use of gel permeation chromatography (GPC) for the determination of the molecular weight distributions of water soluble cationic polyelectrolytes are discussed. Absolute molecular weight measurements were made using a low-angle laser light scattering (LALLS) spectrophotometer. The polymers studied included five samples of an epichlorohydrin dimethylamine (epi/dma) copolymer with weight average molecular weights ranging from 10(3) to 10(5), and four samples of polymeric diallyldimethylammonium chloride (dadmac) with weight average molecular weights ranging from 10(4) to 10(5). These polymers are typically used for water clarification in waste treatment applications.