SEC-MALS

The SEC-MALS system comprises a Waters Arc HPLC system with refractive index (RI) detection, coupled to a Wyatt ultraDAWN Multi-Angle Light Scattering (MALS) detector. This configuration enables comprehensive characterization of polymer samples, including determination of weight-average molecular weight (Mw), number-average molecular weight (Mn), z-average molecular weight (Mz), concentration, differential refractive index increment (dn/dc), and molecular size.

The system is currently configured for tetrahydrofuran (THF) as the mobile phase and calibrated using a 30 kDa polystyrene standard. Polymer separation is performed using a Styragel HT 4, 1000 Å, 10 µm, 7.8 mm × 300 mm column, providing an effective separation range of approximately 5–600 kDa based on molecular weight.

RT-MALS

The Wyatt ultraDAWN Multi-Angle Light Scattering (MALS) detector can be directly coupled to the Vapourtec flow reactor to enable in situ, real-time characterization of polymerization reactions. This configuration utilizes Real-Time Multi-Angle Light Scattering (RT-MALS) to determine key polymer properties, including molecular weight, polydispersity, particle size, and particle concentration during the reaction process.