Temperature controllable HPLC column for preparative fractionation of polymers

Abstract

An HPLC column with a self-contained temperature control device was constructed for preparative temperature programmed interaction chromatography. Two Peltier plates were attached to a large bore column (120x22 mm i.d.) and the column temperature was controlled by PID mode feed back control. At a flow rate of 1.5 mL/mm, the column temperature could be increased and decreased at a rate as high as 50 degrees C/min and 10 degrees C/min, respectively, which is much faster than using a column jacket and bath/circulator. The rapid heating and cooling rates allows a high repetition rate of chromatographic fractionation. The performance of the temperature controllable column was demonstrated successfully by the fractionation of homo-polymer precursors from diblock copolymers.