Characterization of thermal diffusion of polystyrene in binary mixtures of THF/dioxane and THF/cyclohexane

The thermal diffusion coefficient (D_τ) was determined for three polystyrene standards of different molecular masses in binary mixtures of tetrahydrofuran/dioxane and tetrahydrofuran/cyclohexane of various compositions. The D_τ values were obtained by combining retention data from thermal field-flow fractionation measurements with diffusion data from dynamic light scattering experiments. In agreement with earlier work of Schimpf and Giddings, the thermal diffusion coefficient was found to be virtually independent of the molecular mass of the polymers. In the binary mixtures of tetrahydrofuran and dioxane, both good solvents for polystyrene, the D_τ value was approximately equal to the average of the D_τ values in the pure solvents, weighted according to the mole fractions of the solvents in the mixture. However, for polystyrene in binary mixtures of tetrahydrofuran and cyclohexane this linear behavior of the thermal diffusion phenomenon was not observed. The addition of cyclohexane to tetrahydrofuran has initially only a minor effect on the molecular and thermal diffusion coefficients of the polystyrene standards. Because cyclohexane is a theta solvent for polystyrene, the preferential solvation of polystyrene by tetrahydrofuran could be an explanation for these results. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.