APPLICATION OF A GRAPHITE-FURNACE ATOMIC-ABSORPTION DETECTOR AUTOMATICALLY COUPLED TO A HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPH FOR SPECIATION OF METAL-CONTAINING MACROMOLECULES

High-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with graphite furnace atomic absorption (GFAA) is capable of sensitive, nearly non-destructive, element-specific separation and detection of a wide range of molecular species containing metals or metalloids. Applications of HPLC-GFAA techniques are discussed, including size exclusion chromatography for the analysis of experimental organometallic polymers containing chemically bonded biocidal organotin moieties, and reversed bonded phase chromatography for analysis of novel organotin silicates. In conjunction with variably sensitive optical refractive index/ultra violet absorption detection, GFAA demonstrates separation of the polymers into at least two tin-containing fractions of widely different molecular weight (MW). The relative proportions of high- and low-MW fractions have important implications with respect to performance specifications for these and similar controlled release materials. Tin-specific and silicon-specific analysis of an organotin silicate demonstrates co-elution of species containing each element. Future off/on-line 29Si and 119Sn Fourier transform nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy will demonstrate whether each element is bonded to the same molecular species. © 1979.