CHROMATOGRAPHIC SEPARATIONS OF OLIGOVINYLPYRIDINES .1. ANALYTICAL-SCALE CHROMATOGRAPHY OF RADICALLY OLIGOMERIZED 2-VINYLPYRIDINE BY HPLC AND TLC

Oligomer mixtures of 2-vinylpyridine prepared by radical oligomerization were separated by TLC and HPLC. With TLC, using diethyl ether as the eluent, good separations could be achieved up to a degree of oligomerization of n equals 3. TLC could therefore be used as a rapid test for the presence of oligomers in the reaction mixture. For HPLC-separations pentanen and methanol were used as eluents, applying gradients in eluent composition with increasing methanol content. Corresponding to different end groups and isomerism of the oligomers, additional separations within a given degree of oligomerization were observed.