Molecular mass analysis of polymers on monolithic capillary columns based on divinylbenzene

Monolithic capillary columns based on polydivinylbenzene with monolith structure, optimized for the separation of high-molecular compounds, are synthesized. The structure of the monolith is optimized by varying the chemical composition of the porogene. It is shown that monolithic columns with the maximum amount of free volume can be obtained by using a porogene consisting of nonanol and toluene or mesitylene. On the basis of Van Deemter functions measured for the synthesized columns, it was concluded that for sorbates differing strongly in molecular weight and thus their diffusion coefficients, we cannot find a single optimum flow rate, and the optimum separation of polymeric sorbates requires that we reach a certain compromise. It was shown that in these circumstances, monolithic columns with the optimum structure of monolite allow almost completely separation of a mixture of 15 low molecular weight polymeric sorbates into individual components.