Application of Gel Chromatography to Small Molecules. II

Abstract

This presentation is an extension of earlier work (1) in which liquid chromatographic separations of hydrocarbons, alcohols, triglycerides, and surfactants with molecular weights ranging from 100–1000 were made, using columns packed with porous polymeric beads. The fractionation capability of the porous gels was extended to smaller molecules through the development of small porosity gels. The gels separate according to molecular size and are therefore useful for both separation and identification purposes. Since porous gels require no stationary liquid phase, long column life is achieved without a saturated carrier. In this work a high-resolution gel column system yielding greater than 180,000 theoretical plates was investigated, and the high-resolution capability of small-molecule gel permeation chromatography (GPC) was explored.