GEL PERMEATION CHROMATOGRAPHY.

This review paper is concerned with the gel permeation chromatography which is a preparative and analytical technique that has been used primarily for separating polymer molecules with mol wt from 1000 to as high as 10 million. Such a separation permits determination of the MWD of polymers. The existence of relations between MWD and performance characteristics is well known. In addition, this technique has been effective separating molecules as small as water. This attribute makes GPC particularly appropriate for separating components of complex mixtures such as commercial coatings, which include both low and high mol wt species. The subject is discussed under the headings - introduction, comparison with other techniques; history; theory (requirements for separation, objectives of a theory of separation, retention, zone broadening); practice (instrumentation, operational variables, determination of mol wt); and application in the coating industry and related fields.