Decomposition of size-exclusion chromatography elution curves of complex branched polymers

• Multimodal elution curves of multidetector SEC can be decomposed.
• The sample components characterized by the peaks can be separately evaluated.
• The viscosity properties of the components can be separately evaluated.

A new method for the decomposition of non-baseline-resolved multimodal elution curves of SEC with the concentration, light scattering and viscosity detection is presented. The method makes possible the characterization of the polymer-sample components, represented by the peaks forming multimodal elution curves, individually and reduces also the error in the calculation of molecular-weight averages. The procedure is demonstrated on narrow molecular-weight distribution polystyrene standards and their mixture as well as on a grafted polymer sample.