gel permeation chromatography unit for aqueous polymers

凝胶渗透色谱法（GPC）通常用于测量聚合物的分子量分布。 分子量的知识是至关重要的，因为它直接关系到其他性能，如影响加工的粘度。 该提议需要专用GPC来测量水溶性聚合物的分子量。水溶性聚合物用于跨越生物和化学领域的无数应用中。 校园里现有的GPC用于测量有机溶剂可溶性聚合物的分子量。 尽管可以切换水溶性聚合物和有机可溶性聚合物的色谱柱并使用相同的辅助设备和检测器，但这种做法固有许多问题。 我们已经发现，尽管对系统进行了彻底的吹扫，但达到稳定的操作条件所需的时间过长，不仅延迟了对水溶性聚合物的分析，而且还导致了对有机可溶性聚合物的分析的积压。 这种延迟也影响新型聚合物的合成规划和设计。 因此，专用的水相GPC将对聚合物领域正在进行的几个研究项目的生产率产生巨大影响。

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.