A Review of Polymer Shear Degradation in Size-Exclusion Chromatography

Abstract

Although there have been only a few studies involving shear degradation of polymers in size-exclusion chromatographic (SEC) columns, it appears that the potential for degradation exists when analyzing high molecular weight polymers. Because of the complex hydrodynamics associated with SEC systems, it is very difficult to arrive at simple correlations between SEC operational parameters and the onset of shear degradation. Also, the dependency of shear degradation on polymer concentration, structure, and the nature of the mobile phase further complicates this issue. Nevertheless, guidelines involving operational parameters are presented based on published data and estimated shear rates produced in various parts of a SEC system.