A review of gel permeation chromatography: Part I

Until comparatively recently, in the practice of gel permeation chromatography it has been customary to use porous gel beads that have an average diameter in the range between 75 and 100 microns, and which are packed into columns up to 4ft long and having an inside diameter of approximately 0.3in, in order to achieve a separation. A working pressure in the region of 40 psi is normal for each of these columns when eluted with solvents such as toluene or tetrahydrofuran (THF) at ambient temperature. Therefore, a pump that is capable of producing a steady pulseless flow at around 300 psi is sufficient to meet the working requirements of a combination of up to seven such GPC columns. At the customary flow rate of 1cm3 min‐1 a chromatograph equipped as described would produce a GPC scan of whole polymer in about 3 hours.