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GPC coupled with molar mass sensitive detectors is a powerful method to investigate polymer structures and branching. This brief application note describes what kind of information you can expect. ********** [...]

Liquid chromatography (LC) is well established for the comprehensive characterization of complex macromolecules with multiple distributions. Hyphenated chromatographic methods in their various forms are currently one of the most promising and powerful methods for the fractionation and characterization of complex sample mixtures in different property coordinates. Modern detector technologies open up new ways to investigate various properties with high sensitivity even in the low concentration ranges used in chromatography. This paper discusses possibilities and applications for the advanced characterization of macromolecules.

A series of star polymers consisting of poly(tert‐butyl acrylate) arms and an ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) microgel core were synthesized using anionic polymerization. The effect of various parameters (precursor length, ratio [[EGDMA]/[Initiator], reaction time, and overall concentrations) on the average number of arms was investigated. Molecular weights were determined using GPC coupled with an online viscometer and MALLS. The exponents for the relation between intrinsic viscosity or radius of gyration and molecular weight, respectively, are extremely low, indicating that the dimensions of the star polymers only slightly increase with the number of arms. After a certain number of arms is reached the intrinsic viscosity even decreases with molecular weight. Computer simulations for star polymers were carried out where the radius of gyration was calculated as a function of the number of arms. The results are in good agreement with the experimental data.

The article discusses an automated analysis of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH). The method that was chosen was gel permeation chromatography/size exclusion chromatography (GPC/SEC) to measure the molecular weight. It is noted that a true molar mass distribution was shown by WinGPC Unity with a w(log M) axis.