QUANTITATIVE SIZE EXCLUSION CHROMATOGRAPHY - ASSESSING NEW DEVELOPMENTS

Methods of assessing new technology are achieving increased importance because rapid technological changes cause obsolescence of evaluations before they are completed. Users now must often evaluate the specific version of the new technology that they receive. Four major areas are used here to provide examples of assessment methods: high resolution columns, coupled concentration-molecular weight-differential viscometer detectors, flow rate monitoring using a thermal pulse flowmeter and determination of Mark-Houwink constants from polydisperse standards. Specific methods of assessment examined centre about error analysis and sensitivity analysis. Several of the methods use the conventional calibration curve. The idea of correction priority (i.e. thoroughly examining the most fundamental significant corrections first) is emphasized.