Polymer formation from aqueous solutions of α-D-glucose by ultrasound and λ-rays

The production of polymeric material from aqueous glucose solutions treated by ultrasound or λ-rays was investigated by size-exclusion chromatography (SEC). The polymers show strong electrostatic interactions with the SEC-columns and the non-ideal elution behaviour indicates that charged molecules are produced during irradiation. By optimization of the size-exclusion separation applying salt solutions in the mobile phase it was possible to determine the molecular weight (MW) as a function of irradiation dose. For both types of irradiation in the presence of oxygen, products in the molecular weight range up to 4000 dalton were formed. For sonolysis in the absence of oxygen, the same effect was observed due to the fact that small amounts of oxygen are formed by ultrasound irradiation of water. In the case of λ-irradiation in the absence of oxygen there is no inhibition of the polymerization resulting in higher molecular weights of many thousand dalton. The resulting molecular weights depend on dose and dose rate.