Tuesday and Wednesday, March 02 and 03
11:00 am - 12:00 noon

Advanced Polymer Characterization using PSS WinGPC Unity and the EcoSEC GPC System 
     - Mr. Michael Gray, Presicent, Polymer Standards Service - USA Inc.

Absolute molar mass and structure characterization via light scattering, viscometry and triple detection can be accomplished using the PSS WinGPC Unity software in conjunction with the EcoSEC GPC System.  Routine copolymer analysis will be discussed.

Wednesday and Thursday, March 03 and 04
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Trifluroethanol (TFE) as a Cost Savings Alternative to HFIP for GPC Characterization of Polyamides via Polymerization Catalysis
     - Dr. Li Jia, Assistant Professor of Polymer Science at the University of Akron

N-Substituted poly(β-peptide)s or poly Poly(β-peptoid)s often form supramolecular aggregates and interact with GPC columns, leading to errant molecular weight and polydispersity results when using a common organic solvent as the eluent.  Hexafluoroisopropanol (HFPA) is usually used to break up the supramolecular aggregates and the interaction between the polymer and the column.  It was found that the less expensive trifluoroethanol is a reasonable substitute for hexafluoroisopropanol.  The combination of the less expensive solvent and the use of the Tosoh EcoSEC GPC System, which only needs 1/6-1/3 of the elution volume required by other GPC systems for analysis of each sample, allow the GPC analysis of the aforementioned difficult samples to become affordable as routine experiments.