Liquid adsorption chromatography of polyethers: experiments and simulation

The adsorption behavior of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) in reversed-phase chromatography is studied both experimentally and theoretically and a computer simulation of chromatograms is performed on the basis of these studies. The experimental conditions were: different reversed-phase adsorbents and a solvent methanol–water system as the mobile phase. At varying mobile phase compositions highly resolved chromatograms of PEG samples were obtained, in which all peaks could be identified, and the dependencies of the distribution coefficient on the degree of polymerization for PEG molecules were evaluated by processing these chromatograms. The data were interpreted by using a theory of homopolymers based on a continuum Gaussian chain model of flexible macromolecules and a slit-like model of pores of stationary phase. The theory proved to describe well the experimental data in the whole range of studied molecular masses, and the thermodynamic parameters characterizing interactions of ethylene oxide repeating units in PEG molecules with the adsorbent pore walls have been determined from the comparison of the theory with the experimental data. The dispersion of chromatographic peaks corresponding to individual oligomer molecules is also estimated. In the system studied the peak width occurred to be proportional to the distribution coefficient of corresponding macromolecule. The theory is used to develop a computer-assisted procedure for simulation of chromatograms for samples of linear homopolymers. Using the obtained data on the thermodynamic parameters and the estimates of peak dispersion, chromatograms are simulated for PEG samples at two different chromatographic conditions. These simulated chromatograms were in good quantitative agreement with the real chromatograms.