Molecular Weight Dependence of Column Efficiency in Gel Permeation Chromatography and Reverse Flow Technique

Abstract

The relation between column efficiency and molecular weight of a polymer sample in gel permeation chromatography was studied.
Usually, a column efficiency in the number of theoretical plates per foot is measured from a chromatogram of organic solvents, such as acetone and benzene, This method has a disadvantage that it is unsuitable for estimating undesirable broadening of chromatograms of a high molecular weight sample.
From our experiments with reverse flow technique, the following approximate relation of the height equivalent to the theoretical plate, H, and molecular weight of the sample, M, was obtained.
logH=A+BlogM
In this relation, the information about undesirable broadening of chromatograms in the high molecular weight region in GPC was given.
The reverse flow technique is a useful one in GPC to obtain a column efficiency at high molecular weight region. The application of this technique is also described in this report.