Normal-phase (temperature gradient) interaction chromatography – A powerful tool for the characterisation of high molecular weight chain-end functionalised polymers.

Abstract We report here, for the first time, quantitative analysis of end-group functionalisation and the extent of end-group modification of polymers with molar mass up to 200,000 g mol −1 , using a combination of isothermal and temperature gradient interaction chromatography. At such high molecular weights, other common analytical techniques such as MALDI-ToF-MS and NMR spectroscopy are simply unable to offer any quantitative insight into the end-group functionality of polymers. Thus, normal phase isothermal interaction chromatography (NP-IIC) has been used to characterise a series of polystyrene samples, with identical molar mass (c. 90,000 g mol −1 ), each carrying a single chain-end fu…