Characterization of Styrene–Butadiene Block Copolymers by Gel Permeation Chromatography

An important feature of linear and star-like styrene–butadiene block copolymers obtained by anionic polymerization is their composition. Pyrolysis gas chromatgraphy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy are reliable tools to ascertain the content of styrene and butadiene, respectively. The authors of this article propose a new way of determining the composition of styrene–butadiene copolymer samples using only gel permeation chromatography. They were able to obtain the molecular mass and composition by accounting for the corrections imposed by the different hydrodynamic volumes.