Lowering the molecular mass limit of thermal field-flow fractionation for polymer separations

Thermal field-flow fractionation (ThFFF) is capable of separating a wide molecular mass range of polymers by their molecular mass (Mr) and chemical composition. However, retention and resolution decrease significantly for polymers with Mr<20 kDa. Various approaches for increasing the retention of low Mr (<15 kDa) polymers were investigated. Our results showed that temperature conditions and single-component solvents had a limited effect on polymer retention and that certain binary solvent mixtures caused a dramatic increase in retention. The binary solvents approach has enabled the use of a standard ThFFF system and temperature conditions to separate 2.6 kDa PS from 4.4 kDa PS, thereby extending the applicability of ThFFF to lower molecular masses. The effect of binary solvent mixtures on polymer retention is correlated with the mixture viscosity.