High Performance Size Exclusion Chromatography Using Porous Glass Packing Materials

Abstract

Porous glass packing materials of average particle diameter 5 μm have been packed into a 7.2 mm i.d. x 25 cm column by viscousslurry packing parocedure. Average pore diameters of porous glasses were 170 Â, 500 Â, 1000 A, and 2000 A. The numbers of theoretical plates were between 7000 and 8000 per a column for porous glasses of pore diameters of 170, 500, and 1000 A, and 5000 for that of 2000 A. The retention volumes of narrow molecular weight-distribution polystyrene standards have been determined using tetrahydrofuran as mobile phase for the construction of calibration curves. Separations of polystyrene over molecular weight ranges of 1000 and 4,000,000 have been obtained by combining all four porous glass columns in series. Molecular weight averages of NBS 706 polystyrene have been measured and compared with the values determined with polystyrene gel columns. Both results were equivalent to the manufacturer's data. Porous glasses thus appear to be a useful packing materials for HPSEC.