Trends in Polymer Separations: Better and More Information on Polymer Distributions

Polymer separations are used to obtain information on molecular distributions (molecular-weight distribution, chemical-composition distribution, functionality-type distribution, etc.). The existing methods, such as size-exclusion chromatography are reliable, but imperfect. New methods and improvements to existing methods are being studied and some of the results will be discussed. In addition, comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography allows the complete characterization of two mutually dependent distributions. LCxSEC chromatograms provide a very good qualitative impression of the distributions, but calibration is not straightforward. Finally, progress in mass spectrometry allows much better information to be obtained.