IONIC POLYSACCHARIDES .I. ADSORPTION AND FRACTIONATION OF POLYELECTROLYTES ON (DIETHYLAMINO)ETHYL CELLULOSE

Adsorption equilibrium on and elution from DEAE-cellulose have been studied for the ionic polysaccharide series: hyaluronate, chondroitin sulfate, and heparin. Exhaustive elution of a given polymer at a molar concentration M of NaCl is characterized by the parameter θ*, the ratio of the weight adsorbed per gram of absorbent to the maximum adsorption capacity for that polymer. Elution data are fitted approximately by the linear relation: 1-θ* = (M-M1)/(M0-M1), where M1 and M0 are constants, corresponding approximately to M values for initial desorption from a saturated surface (θ* = 1) and for complete elution, respectively. The θ*-M relation appears not to depend on molecular weight for hyaluronate. The values of M0 and M1 increase with polymer charge density. The polymer desorption is exothermal, since hyaluronate solubility increases with temperature decrease. Stepwise elution of hyaluronate adsorbed on DEAE-cellulose leads to efficient molecular-weight fractionation. Breadth of distribution in selected fractions is characterized by the average value of 1.2 for the weight- to number-average molecular weight. © 1968, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.