The applications of biodegradable polymers have been focused on three major groups: medical (sutures, graphs, drug delivery systems), agricultural (planting containers, controlled release of chemicals) and consumer goods.
The degradation of these polymers is an irreversible process leading to a significant change of the structure of a material, typically characterized by a loss of properties such as molecular weight, structure or mechanical strength. As the role of biodegradable polymers increases analytical methods must evolve to allow accurate characterization.
Traditionally Size exclusion chromatography using conventional calibration was used but this only gave us relative molecular weight which didn't take into consideration structural differences or branching.
Using the advanced Triple/Tetra detection Size exclusion chromatography - From one injection we get information regarding concentration, intrinsic viscosity, density, absolute molecular weight and directly detect changes in the polymer structure.
This advanced system helps give us a broad understanding about the degradation process of our samples and how the changing of functional groups on our polymer will affect the degradation process.
Processing the data given by our triple detection system we can characterize biodegradable polymers such as modified starches and polysaccharides used as stabilizers and emulsifiers e.g.dextran and chitosan.
We can also use the system to characterize binders and drug delivery vehicles, which include biodegradable polymers when characterizing a formulation for FDA approval.
Therefore by using an advanced Triple/Tetra size exclusion chromatography system we get a vast amount of knowledge helping us to accurately characterize the properties of our biodegradable polymer in one injection.
