SEPARATION OF POLY(METHYL METHACRYLATE)S ACCORDING TO THEIR TACTICITY .1. PRELIMINARY STUDIES ON THE TACTICITY DEPENDENCE OF CHROMATOGRAPHIC BEHAVIOR OF STEREOREGULAR PMMAS

The unconventional liquid chromatography of polymers under limiting conditions of their solubility was applied to poly(methyl methacrylate)s differing in their tacticity. The polymers were dissolved in thermodynamically good solvents and injected into an appropriate size exclusion chromatographic (SEC) column flushed with matched, moderately strong nonsolvents. The set of (limiting) conditions was found under which less soluble syndiotactic poly(methyl methacrylate) moved along the column together with the zone of its initial solvent while better soluble isotactic poly(methyl methacrylate) was eluted according to the SEC mechanism. This indicates the potential of liquid chromatography under limiting conditions to characterize the tacticity of poly(methyl methacrylate)s.