title: Detailed study of polystyrene solubility using pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and combination with size-exclusion chromatography.
abstract: Measuring polymer solubility accurately and precisely is challenging. This is especially true at unfavourable solvent compositions, when only very small amounts of polymer dissolve. In this paper, pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) is demonstrated to be much more informative and sensitive than conventional methods, such as ultraviolet spectroscopy. By using a programmed-temperature-vapourisation injector as the pyrolysis chamber, we demonstrate that Py-GC-MS can cover up to five orders of magnitude in dissolved polymer concentrations. For polystyrene, a detection limit of 1 ng mL(-1) is attained. Dissolution in poor solvents is demonstrated to be discriminating in terms of the analyte molecular weight. Py-GC-MS additionally can yield information on polymer composition (e.g. in case of copolymers). In combination with size-exclusion chromatography, Py-GC-MS allows us to estimate the molecular weight distributions of minute amounts of a dissolved polymer and variations therein as a function of time.
authors.affiliation: Analytical-Chemistry Group, Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94157, 1090 GD, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, achojnacka@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chojnacka
authors.forename: Hans-Gerd
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Janssen
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schoenmakers