Quantitative interpretation of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic data from a size-exclusion chromatography solvent–evaporation interface

Quantitative evaluation of polymer composition across the SEC chromatogram can provide more accurate characterization of heterogeneous polymer samples for problem solving and for material specification. To this end Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) with solvent–evaporation interfaces has become a very powerful detector for size-exclusion chromatography (SEC). The solvent–evaporation interface removes the mobile phase at the exit of the chromatograph and deposits the separated molecular sizes as polymer films on infrared transparent substrates. Quantitative interpretation of the FTIR spectra obtained from these films has recently been found to be best accomplished by using partial least squares. In this paper, polystyrene and poly(methylmethacrylate), alone, as blends, and a copolymer were analyzed in a SEC equipped with an evaporative interface. Molecular weight effects, wavelength selection, the effect of averaging spectra on results, and selection of the best data preprocessing method were investigated. General methods of evaluating these variables were developed to arrive at conditions for this particular “model” situation in order to provide a basis for the analysis of more complex polymers.