Chromatographic Performance of Weak Cation Exchanger Carrying Molecular Brushes Synthesized by Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer Polymerization

The column materials in the form of monodisperse and porous particles were synthesized with regard to test their column performances in Ion Exchange Chromatography (IEC) mode. Particles in the form of poly(glycidil methacrylate-coethyleneglycol dimethacrylate) poly(GMA-co-EDM) copolymer used for starting materials in the synthesis, were maintained by “multi-stage microsuspension polymerization”. Particle characterization was assessed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), BET surface area and porosity measurement system and FTIR spectroscopy. Weak cation-exchange carboxyl (- COOH) group on monodisperse and porous poly(DHPM-co-EDM) particles, used for ion-exchange chromatography, was synthesized by “Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer Polymerization” (RAFT) method. The investigation of column performance concluded that weak cation-exchanged columns, synthesized by RAFT (190-260 µm) showed low and stable theoretical plate heights and high peak resolution values compared to literature knowledge. Protein recovery data in ionexchange column, which is synthesized by RAFT (97-100%) polymerization technique were determined as similar as quantitative values for all proteins.“Nano-scale change” of ligand length determined the chromatographic performance of functional based ion-exchanged stable phase. Chromatographic studies demonstrated that the length of polymeric ligand, which can be controlled by RAFT polymerization, affected decrease of retention time without any change of column reverse pressure values, chromatographic separation ability (peak resolution and plate height) and analyte recovery from column.