Insight into the Chemical Heterogeneity of Cationic Poly-Electrolytes by Gradient-HPLC Using Salt Gradients

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Abstract
The chromatographic behaviour of cationic poly(meth)acrylates was investigated in HPLC using salt gradients as the mobile phase. A quantitative correlation was found between retention time and number of charges per macromolecule. Information on the copolymerization behaviour of binary systems could be derived from the chromatograms. Insight into the chromatographic mechanism was gained by temperature dependent HPLC. Thus the method is suitable for the characterisation of cationic polymethacrylates. The influence of parameters like ionic strength, pH-value, temperature, and poresize of the stationary phase corresponds widely with physico-chemical data and models of ionic macromolecules. The results offer a basis for setting up standard methods for the chromatographic characterisation of polyelectrolytes of similar structure.