Taylor dispersion analysis (TDA) is a simple and absolute method to determine the hydrodynamic radius of solutes that respond to UV or fluorescence detections. To broaden the application range of TDA, it is necessary to develop new detection modes. This study aims to study capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detector (C4D) for the analysis of charged macromolecules. The detection sensitivities and hydrodynamic radii were compared for a C4D detector and a UV detector on positively or negatively charged polymers responding both to UV and C4D (poly-L-lysine and poly(acrylamide-co-2-acrylamido-1-methyl-propanesulfonate). The influence of the composition of the background electrolyte on the detection sensitivity has been studied and optimized for C4D detection. The influence of the molar mass and of the polymer chemical charge density on the C4D and UV sensitivities of detection have been investigated based on well-characterized copolymers samples of different molar masses and charge densities. The advantages and disadvantages compared to UV detection, as well as the range of applicability of C4D detection in TDA were identified. C4D detection can be an alternative method for sizing charged polymers of reasonable molar mass (typically below 105 g mol-1) that do not absorb in UV. A decline in the sensitivity of detection in C4D was observed for higher molar masses.
Keywords: Contactless capacitively coupled conductivity detection; Polyelectrolytes; Size-based characterization; Taylor dispersion analysis.
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