Charge-based separation of synthetic macromolecules by non-aqueous ion exchange chromatography

Abstract

Traditional polymer-separation methods, such as size-exclusion chromatography and (gradient) liquid adsorption chromatography, cannot provide separations exclusively based on the number of deprotonated carboxylic-acid groups along the backbone chain of polymers. A novel separation method, based on non-aqueous ion-exchange chromatography (NAIEX), was developed, which allows such a separation of acid-functional polymers that are soluble in organic solvents. The polar, aprotic N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone was found to be a suitable solvent. It features a high relative permittivity (favouring dissociation of ion pairs into free ions) and it is a good solvent for polymers and organic salts, such as triethyl-ammonium formate. A negative charge is established on these polymers by deprotonation of the carboxylic-acid groups in the presence of an organic superbase (tetramethyl guanidine). Traditional potent organic bases, such as triethylamine, do not possess the base strength to compensate for the increase in pKa of polymeric carboxylic acid groups in non-aqueous conditions. Triethyl-ammonium formate is proposed as an alternative to traditional salts used for elution in aqueous ion-exchange chromatography. Separation was performed on an industry-standard strong-anion-exchange column and (near-)universal detection of the polymers was performed by high-temperature evaporative-light-scattering detection. The NAIEX method yielded a separation based on the acid-functionality distribution of the polymer. NAIEX was compared with traditional normal- and reversed-phase liquid-chromatography approaches for the separation of acid-functional copolymers.