gel permeation chromatography unit for aqueous polymers

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Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) is often used to measure the molecular weight distribution of polymers.  Knowledge of the molecular weight is vital in that it is directly related to other properties such as viscosity which impact processing.  This proposal requires a dedicated GPC to measure the molecular weights of water soluble polymers. Water soluble polymers are used in a myriad of applications, spanning the biological and chemical fields.  Existing GPC's on campus are used to measure the molecular weights of organic solvent soluble polymers.  Although it is possible to switch columns for water soluble and organic soluble polymers and use the same auxiliary equipment and detectors, many problems are inherent in such a practice.  We have discovered that despite exhaustive purging of the system, the time required to achieve stable operating conditions is excessive, delaying not only the analysis of the water soluble polymers but also causing a back-log of the analysis of organic soluble polymers.  Such delays also impact synthetic planning and design of novel polymers.   Thus, a dedicated aqueous phase GPC will have an enormous impact on the productivity of several research programs being conducted in the polymer field.