Characterization of synthetic polyelectrolytes by capillary electrophoresis

Abstract

Capillary electrophoresis in entangled polymer solutions was applied to determine the molecular mass and polydispersity of polyelectrolytes. The separation selectivities of different polyethylene glycols as buffer additive can be correlated to their average molecular mass. A universal curve correlating the selectivity and the molecular mass could be obtained by using the instrinsic viscosity of the polyethylene glycol. The separation of poly(2-vinylpyridine) standards was compared to the separation of poly(4-vinylpyridine) standards. An indirect detection system was developed to characterize the cationic polyelectrolyte polydiallyldimethyl ammonium chloride. Various polymers with oppositely charged groups (polycarboxybetaines) were investigated with respect to structure dependence, pH dependence and molecular mass dependence of inter- and intramolecular association.