title: Polymer fractionation using chromatographic column packed with novel regenerated cellulose beads modified with silane.
abstract: Novel microporous beads with the particle size of about 90 microm were prepared, for the first time, from cellulose and konjac glucomannan (RC/KGM3) in 1.5 M NaOH/0.65 M thiourea aqueous solution by emulsification method. The microporous beads were then modified with silane to avoid the adsorption of polymers containing hydroxyl groups, coded as RC/KGM3-Si. A preparative size-exclusion chromatographic (SEC) column (500 mm x 20 mm) was packed with RC/KGM3-Si, and its exclusion limit and fractionation range of the stationary phase were, respectively, weight-average molecular masses (Mw) of 4.8 x 10(5) g/mol and 5.3 x 10(3)-4.8 x 10(5) g/mol for polystyrene in tetrahydrofuran. The preparative SEC column was used to fractionate poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL, Mw = 8.31 x 10(4) g/mol polydispersity index d= 1.55) in tetrahydrofuran and a polysaccharide PC3-2 (Mw = 1.21 x 10(5) g/mol, d= 1.70) in 0.05 M NaOH aqueous solution, respectively. The Mw values of the fractions determined by analytical SEC combined with laser light scattering were from 1.2 x 10(4) to 1.84 x 10(5) for PCL and from 8.5 x 10(4) to 2.13 x 10(5) for PC3-2, as well as d from 1.2 to 1.5. The results indicated that the preparative SEC has good fractionation efficiency in both organic solvent and alkaline aqueous solution for the various polymers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
authors.forename: Xiaopeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yifeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry*; D002850:Chromatography, Gel / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D011108:Polymers / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012821:Silanes / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers; D012821:Silanes; D002482:Cellulose