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Thank you for your continued interest in LCGC's content series on the Application of GPC/SEC/GFC Standards and Polymeric Reference Materials. The Executive Summary is now available.

Gel-permeation chromatography (GPC), size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), and gel-filtration chromatography (GFC) are chromatographic techniques used to determine key properties of macromolecules, such as molecular weight and molecular weight distribution.

GPC/SEC/GFC all work by separating and sorting the macromolecules according to their size by passing a solution of the macromolecules through a column packed with a porous material. These are relative techniques therefore to obtain molecular weight values, analysts need to calibrate the instrument and columns using rigorously characterized polymeric reference materials. The correct reference material to use depends not only on the type of macromolecule of interest and the range of its molecular weight, but also on the nature of the solvent used to dissolve it as well as the type of stationary phase in the column that will perform the separation. Analysts also use these standards to validate the performance of light-scattering detectors, viscometers, and mass spectrometers.

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