GPC analysis of model compounds. I. Phenyl- and benzo-substituted aromatic compounds

A series of 36 compounds of known structure was used in a study to elucidate the mechanism of separation of gel-permeation chromatography (GPC). The various molecular dimensions were defined and measured for these compounds. The elution volume for these compounds was determined by GPC under specified and controlled conditions. The relationships between elution volume and molecular dimension were investigated using computer-based statistical analysis for the entire set of compounds and manual simultaneous equations for smaller sets of compounds. It was found that, as increasingly more molecular dimensions are considered, (1) the importance of the maximum molecular dimension A_p′ (the only dimension considered by many investigators) significantly decreases and (2) a significantly better prediction of the elution volume of these compounds could be made.