High-speed and super-speed size-exclusion chromatography of polymers for process analysis

Super-speed high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is becoming a popular analytical tool. Application of super-speed HPLC in process analysis may provide near real-time feedback control. Nonaqueous size exclusion chromatography (SEC) with silica-based stationary phase columns was studied in the high-speed and super-speed regimes. The dependency of solute resolution and chromatographic analysis time on experimental parameters, such as column back pressure, was investigated. A column selection procedure is proposed and applied by extrapolating information from the high-speed regime to the super-speed regime. Resolution and detection of a 500 000 g mole exp --1 polystyrene and toluene mixture in < 3 s analysis time was obtained for nonaqueous SEC. The experimental results compared favorably to the results suggested by the column selection procedure. Reproducibility of the system was examined. 18 ref.--AA