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Handbook of Size Exclusion Chromatography and Related ...

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ThisisimportantwhenLCCCisappliedtocharacterization<strong>of</strong>polymer<br />

blends<strong>and</strong>block-,graft-,orstar-copolymerswhereonekind<strong>of</strong>polymer<br />

chains elutes under critical conditions, irrespective <strong>of</strong> its molar mass<br />

(chromatographic invisibility). Another kind <strong>of</strong> polymer chain is eluted<br />

under SEC conditions <strong>and</strong> its MMM/MMD is to be determined in the<br />

conventional way.Reduced separation selectivity <strong>of</strong> the latter chains<br />

affects the accuracy <strong>of</strong> the results obtained.<br />

3. Single-component critical eluents are rather rare (30). Therefore, one is<br />

forcedtousemixedmobilephasesinLCCC.Ifpossible,binaryeluents<br />

are preferred over multicomponent eluents. Usually, experimental<br />

problems increase with the increasing number <strong>of</strong> eluent components.<br />

Temperature <strong>and</strong> pressure dependence <strong>of</strong> preferential sorption <strong>and</strong><br />

preferentialsolvation(Sec.4.2)aswellaspreferentialevaporationfrom<br />

themobilephaseincreasinglycomplicatenotonlycriticalpointstability<br />

butalsosampledetection.Evaporativelightscatteringdetectors(ELSD)<br />

may be used to suppress detection problems, although the response <strong>of</strong><br />

ELSD is <strong>of</strong>ten rather nonlinear <strong>and</strong> depends on polymer composition,<br />

molar mass, as well as on eluent composition (72) (Sec. 10).<br />

5.2 Barrier Coupled Procedures<br />

When compared with HLPC <strong>of</strong> low molar mass substances, polymer HPLC exhibits<br />

several specific features. For example, in the case <strong>of</strong> porous particulate or monolithic<br />

column fillings, we are confronted with generally large differences between<br />

mobilities <strong>of</strong> macromolecular analytes <strong>and</strong> eluent molecules. With the exception <strong>of</strong><br />

LC CC, macromolecules that are partially or fully excluded from the filling pores tend<br />

to move along the HPLC column much faster than molecules <strong>of</strong> eluent that penetrate<br />

most filling pores. This allows the creation <strong>of</strong> “barriers” <strong>of</strong> small molecules, which<br />

are impermeable for macromolecules possessing certain enthalpic interactivity. Such<br />

barriers force macromolecules to decelerate their progression along the column <strong>and</strong><br />

to elute at the barrier edge. In other words, macromolecules accumulate on the<br />

corresponding barrier <strong>of</strong> small molecules <strong>and</strong> may elute irrespectively <strong>of</strong> their molar<br />

mass. This is a specific approach to the mutual compensation <strong>of</strong> entropic <strong>and</strong><br />

enthalpic effects within HPLC columns. Adsorption-promoting barriers, that is,<br />

zones <strong>of</strong> liquids with low solvent strength, are utilized for adsorbing macromolecules.<br />

Enthalpic partition <strong>and</strong> phase separation barriers are created from thermodynamically<br />

poor solvents or nonsolvents for polymer analytes. Barriers can be<br />

. Continuous, created by the mobile phase, or<br />

. Local, formed by pulses <strong>of</strong> appropriate liquids. The local barriers can be<br />

single or multiple.<br />

© 2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc.

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