On-line coupling of high temperature GPC and 1H NMR for the analysis of polymers

Molecular Characterization of Polymer Networks

Polymer networks are complex systems consisting of molecular components. Whereas the properties of the individual components are typically well understood by most chemists, translating that chemical insight into polymer networks themselves is limited by the statistical and poorly defined nature of network structures. As a result, it is challenging, if not currently impossible, to extrapolate from the molecular behavior of components to the full range of performance and properties of the entire polymer network. Polymer networks therefore present an unrealized, important, and interdisciplinary opportunity to exert molecular-level, chemical control on material macroscopic properties. A barrier to sophisticated molecular approaches to polymer networks is that the techniques for characterizing the molecular structure of networks are often unfamiliar to many scientists. Here, we present a critical overview of the current characterization techniques available to understand the relation between the molecular properties and the resulting performance and behavior of polymer networks, in the absence of added fillers. We highlight the methods available to characterize the chemistry and molecular-level properties of individual polymer strands and junctions, the gelation process by which strands form networks, the structure of the resulting network, and the dynamics and mechanics of the final material. The purpose is not to serve as a detailed manual for conducting these measurements but rather to unify the underlying principles, point out remaining challenges, and provide a concise overview by which chemists can plan characterization strategies that suit their research objectives. Because polymer networks cannot often be sufficiently characterized with a single method, strategic combinations of multiple techniques are typically required for their molecular characterization.

Analysis of the molecular heterogeneity of poly(lactic acid)/poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) blends by hyphenating size exclusion chromatography with nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopy

The compositional and stereochemical heterogeneity of copolymers are key molecular metrics, and their knowledge is of pivotal importance for evidence based material development. Yet, while it is state of the art to determine these parameters for many petroleum based polymers, little insight exists in that regard for bio-based materials. Towards this end, size exclusion chromatography (SEC) was hyphenated with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) in an offline manner and a blend of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) (PBSA) investigated. Thus, the microstructural heterogeneity could be shown with regard to tacticity of the PLA and regioregularity of the PBSA component. The results show, that the highest molar mass fraction differs in stereochemical composition from the others. It may be assumed that this is the result of misinsertions with regard to stereochemistry occurring during the catalytic polymerization of the lactide. While the content of both constituent polymers along the molar mass axis could be well studied using a univariate analysis of the infrared (IR) spectra, this method failed to profile the adipate and succinate content individually. For this purpose, SEC was coupled to IR spectroscopy in online mode and the spectra were evaluated by a multivariate protocol. Thus, the content of each monomer along the molar mass distribution could be mapped with high chromatographic resolution.

Detection challenges in quantitative polymer analysis by liquid chromatography

Accurate quantification of polymer distributions is one of the main challenges in polymer analysis by liquid chromatography. The response of contemporary detectors is typically influenced by compositional features such as molecular weight, chain composition, end groups, and branching. This renders the accurate quantification of complex polymers of which there are no standards available, extremely challenging. Moreover, any (programmed) change in mobile-phase composition may further limit the applicability of detection techniques. Current methods often rely on refractive index detection, which is not accurate when dealing with complex samples as the refractive-index increment is often unknown. We review current and emerging detection methods in liquid chromatography with the aim of identifying detectors, which can be applied to the quantitative analysis of complex polymers.

On-line SEC-MR-NMR hyphenation: optimization of sensitivity and selectivity on a 62 MHz benchtop NMR spectrometer

The development of sophisticated synthetic routes for polymeric materials and more complex formulation used in current polymers require more advanced analytical techniques. A direct correlation between molar mass distribution and chemical composition is provided.

Medium Resolution 1 H-NMR at 62 MHz as a New Chemically Sensitive Online Detector for Size-Exclusion Chromatography (SEC-NMR)

A state-of-the-art, medium-resolution ¹ H-NMR spectrometer (62 MHz) is used as a chemically sensitive online detector for size-exclusion chromatography of polymers such as polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and polystyrene (PS). The method uses protonated eluents and works at typical chromatographic conditions with trace amounts of analytes (<0.5 g L^-1 after separation). Strong solvent suppression, e.g., by a factor of 500, is achieved by means of T₁ -filtering and mathematical subtraction methods. Substantial improvements are made with respect to previous work in terms of the sensitivity (signal-to-noise ratio up to 130:1, PMMA OCH₃ ) and selectivity (peak width, full width half maximum (FWHM) 4 Hz on-flow). Typical homopolymers and a blend are investigated to deformulate their composition along the dimensions of molecular weight and NMR chemical shift. These results validate this new hyphenated chromatography method, which can greatly facilitate analysis and is much more effective than previously published results.

Hyphenated low-field NMR techniques: combining NMR with NIR, GPC/SEC and rheometry

Hyphenated low-field NMR techniques are promising characterization methods for online process analytics and comprehensive offline studies of soft materials. By combining different analytical methods with low-field NMR, information on chemical and physical properties can be correlated with molecular dynamics and complementary chemical information. In this review, we present three hyphenated low-field NMR techniques: a combination of near-infrared spectroscopy and time-domain NMR (TD-NMR) relaxometry, online (1) H-NMR spectroscopy measured directly after size exclusion chromatographic (SEC, also known as GPC) separation and a combination of rheometry and TD-NMR relaxometry for highly viscous materials. Case studies are reviewed that underline the possibilities and challenges of the different hyphenated low-field NMR methods. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Role of Radical Species in Salicylaldiminato Ni(II) Mediated Polymer Chain Growth: A Case Study for the Migratory Insertion Polymerization of Ethylene in the Presence of Methyl Methacrylate

To date, an inconclusive and partially contradictive picture exists on the behavior of neutral Ni(II) insertion polymerization catalysts toward methyl methacrylate (MMA). We shed light on this issue by a combination of comprehensive mechanistic NMR and EPR studies, isolation of a key Ni(I) intermediate, and pressure reactor studies with ethylene and MMA, followed by detailed polymer analysis. An interlocking mechanistic picture of an insertion and a free radical polymerization is revealed. Both polymerizations run simultaneously (25 bar ethylene, neat MMA, 70 °C); however, the chain growth cycles are independent of each other, and therefore exclusively a physical mixture of homo-PE and homo-PMMA is obtained. A Ni-C bond cleavage was excluded as a free radical source. Rather a homolytic P-C bond cleavage in the labile aryl phosphine ligand and the reaction of low-valent Ni(0/I) species with specific iodo substituted N^O (Ar-I) ligands were shown to initiate radical MMA polymerizations. Several reductive elimination decomposition pathways of catalyst precursor or active intermediates were shown to form low-valent Ni species. One of those pathways is a bimolecular reductive coupling via intermediate (N^O)Ni(I) formation. These intermediate Ni(I) species can be prevented from ultimate decomposition by capturing with organic radical sources, forming insertion polymerization active [(N^O)Ni(II)-R] species and prolonging the ethylene polymerization activity.

Development of a chemically sensitive online SEC detector based on FTIR spectroscopy

A new FTIR–SEC coupling method provides correlated information about the molecular weight distribution and the chemical composition and has the potential to be applied as a standard SEC detector.

On the feasibility of determining polymer chemical heterogeneity by SEC with continuous off-line Raman detection

Examined here is the feasibility of employing Raman spectroscopy as a detection method in size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) and related macromolecular separations, for the purposes of determining the chemical heterogeneity of copolymers.

Branched polymers characterized by comprehensive two-dimensional separations with fully orthogonal mechanisms: molecular-topology fractionation×size-exclusion chromatography

Polymer separations under non-conventional conditions have been explored to obtain a separation of long-chain branched polymers from linear polymers with identical hydrodynamic size. In separation media with flow-through channels of the same order as the size of the analyte molecules in solution, the separation and the elution order of polymers are strongly affected by the flow rate. At low flow rates, the largest polymers are eluted last. At high flow rates, they are eluted first. By tuning the channel size and flow rate, conditions can be found where separation becomes independent of molar mass or size of linear polymers. Long-chain branched polymers did experience lower migration rates under these conditions and can be separated from linear polymers. This type of separation is referred to as molecular-topology fractionation (MTF) at critical conditions. Separation by comprehensive two-dimensional molecular-topology fractionation and size-exclusion chromatography (MTF×SEC) was used to study the retention characteristics of MTF. Branching selectivity was demonstrated for three- and four-arm "star" polystyrenes of 3-5×10(6)g/mol molar mass. Baseline separation could be obtained between linear polymer, Y-shaped molecules, and X-shaped molecules in a single experiment at constant flow rate. For randomly branched polymers, the branching selectivity inevitably results in an envelope of peaks, because it is not possible to fully resolve the huge numbers of different branched and linear polymers of varying molar mass. It was concluded that MTF involves partial deformation of polymer coils in solution. The increased coil density and resistance to deformation can explain the different retention behavior of branched molecules.

Toward absolute chemical composition distribution measurement of polyolefins by high-temperature liquid chromatography hyphenated with infrared absorbance and light scattering detectors

Chemical composition distribution (CCD) is a fundamental metric for representing molecular structures of copolymers in addition to molecular weight distribution (MWD). Solvent gradient interaction chromatography (SGIC) is commonly used to separate copolymers by chemical composition in order to obtain CCD. The separation of polymer in SGIC is, however, not only affected by chemical composition but also by molecular weight and architecture. The ability to measure composition and MW simultaneously after separation would be beneficial for understanding the impact of different factors and deriving true CCD. In this study, comprehensive two-dimensional chromatography (2D) was coupled with infrared absorbance (IR5) and light scattering (LS) detectors for characterization of ethylene-propylene copolymers. Polymers were first separated by SGIC as the first dimension chromatography (D1). The separated fractions were then characterized by the second dimension (D2) size exclusion chromatography (SEC) with IR5 and LS detectors. The concentrations and compositions of the separated fractions were measured online using the IR5 detector. The MWs of the fractions were measured by the ratio of LS to IR5 signals. A metric was derived from online concentration and composition data to represent CCD breadth. The metric was shown to be independent of separation gradients for an "absolute" measurement of CCD breadth. By combining online composition and MW data, the relationship of MW as a function of chemical composition was obtained. This relationship was qualitatively consistent with the results by SEC coupled to IR5, which measures chemical composition as a function of logMW. The simultaneous measurements of composition and MW give the opportunity to study the SGIC separation mechanism and derive chain architectural characteristics of polymer chains.

Artificial photosynthesis of oxalate and oxalate-based polymer by a photovoltaic reactor

A photovoltaic reactor was designed for artificial photosynthesis, based on the reactions involved in high energy hydrogen atoms, which were produced from water electrolysis. Water and CO2, under the conditions studied, were converted to oxalate (H2C2O4) and a polymer. This was the first time that the oxalates and oxalate-based polymer were produced from the artificial photosynthesis process.

High-temperature gradient HPLC and LC-NMR for the analysis of complex polyolefins

The synthesis and characterization of polyolefins continues to be one of the most important areas for academic and industrial polymer research. One consequence of the development of new "tailor-made" polyolefins is the need for new and improved analytical techniques for the analysis of polyolefins with respect to molar mass and chemical composition distribution. The present article briefly reviews different new and relevant techniques for polyolefin analysis. Crystallization analysis fractionation is a powerful new technique for the analysis of short-chain branching in linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and the analysis of polyolefin blends and copolymers regarding chemical composition. For the fast analysis of the chemical composition distribution, a new high-temperature gradient high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system has been developed. The efficiency of this system for the separation of various olefin copolymers is demonstrated. The correlation between molar mass and chemical composition can be accessed by on-line coupling of high-temperature size exclusion chromatography (HT-SEC) and 1H NMR spectroscopy. It is shown that the on-line NMR analysis of chromatographic fractions yields information on microstructure and tacticity in addition to molar mass and copolymer composition.