title: Determination of the degree of substitution and its distribution of carboxymethylcelluloses by capillary zone electrophoresis.
abstract: A method based on capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) has been developed to determine the degree of substitution (DS) of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC). Separations were performed with borate buffer (pH 9, ionic strength 20 mM) as background electrolyte in capillaries of 75 microm ID, with an applied voltage of 10 kV, and for detection UV absorption at 196 nm was measured. The use of an internal standard (phthalic acid) to correct for mobility variations resulted in a strong improvement of the precision of the DS determination. Experiments with indirect UV detection indicated that the peak widths obtained actually reflect the variation in mobility, and with that of the DS value, of CMC samples. With the proposed method not only the average DS value but also its dispersity could be established for technical CMC samples. A small but definite effect of the polymeric size on the mobilities was observed. Therefore, DS calibration curves will have to be determined for a specific MM range. Since the size effect is small, a classification of CMCs as low-, middle-, or high MM will be sufficient to obtain accurate data on the DS distribution.
authors.affiliation: Polymer-Analysis Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, 1018 WV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Kathalijne A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Oudhoff
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Buijtenhuijs
authors.forename: Peter H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Wijnen
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Schoenmakers
authors.forename: Wim Th
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Kok
mesh_terms: D002266:Carboxymethylcellulose Sodium / Q000737:chemistry*; D019075:Electrophoresis, Capillary / Q000379:methods; D010316:Particle Size; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002266:Carboxymethylcellulose Sodium