Polymeric dispersants are an important ingredient in many consumer products. Their separations and identifications in final product formulation can be very challenging due to the presence of multiple polymeric dispersants at different levels and the presence of other polymeric and small-molecule components. In this study, using nearly comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography (2D-LC), various water-soluble polymer and co-polymer dispersants were separated with aqueous size exclusion chromatography (SEC) in the first dimension (¹D) and gradient elution reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) in the second dimension (²D). Detection of the polymeric dispersants was accomplished by evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD). A large ID (8.0 mm) SEC column used in common one-dimensional SEC practices was directly adopted in the 2D setup for rapid method development. A close representation of fully comprehensive 2D separation was achieved even with 60% of ¹D eluent diverted to waste, demonstrating the flexibility and versatility of having SEC in ¹D for two dimensional separation of polymers. Important method parameters, such as ²D column dimensions and flow rate, gradient conditions, and buffer pH were studied. Practical aspects of routine industrial applications such as solvent consumption and analysis time were also considered. This method was exploited for quick identification of polymeric dispersants in commercial detergent samples. Nine detergent samples were screened and polymeric dispersants and additional polymer features were detected in the samples.

聚合物分散剂是许多消费产品中的重要成分。由于存在不同含量的多种聚合物分散剂以及存在其他聚合物和小分子组分，因此它们在最终产品配方中的分离和鉴定可能非常具有挑战性。在这项研究中，使用近乎全面的二维液相色谱（2D-LC），使用水溶性尺寸排阻色谱（SEC）在第一维（¹ D）中分离了各种水溶性聚合物和共聚物分散剂，并进行了梯度洗脱二维液相色谱（RPLC）（²D）。聚合物分散剂的检测是通过蒸发光散射检测器（ELSD）完成的。二维一维设置中直接采用了通常的一维SEC做法中使用的大内径（8.0 mm）SEC色谱柱，用于快速方法开发。充分全面2D分离的接近表示达到甚至为60％^1个d洗脱液转向废液，表明具有在SEC的灵活性和通用性¹ d为聚合物的二维分离。重要的方法参数，例如²研究了D柱尺寸和流速，梯度条件和缓冲液pH。还考虑了常规工业应用的实际方面，例如溶剂消耗和分析时间。该方法用于快速鉴定商业洗涤剂样品中的聚合物分散剂。筛选了九种洗涤剂样品，并在样品中检测了聚合物分散剂和其他聚合物特征。