Preparation and Properties of Hydrophilic Gels from Mannan Grafted by Vinyl Acetate as Gel Chromatographic Packings

Abstract

Graft copolymers, which contain 54, 71 and 84 mol% of pendant poly (vinyl acetate) and whose degree of polymerization were about 2000, were synthesized by grafting vinyl acetate to mannan granules which contained an aqueous solution of potassium peroxodisulfate. Beads of acetylated graft copolymer were prepared by suspending a solution of acetylated graft copolymer in dichloromethane in an aqueous medium. Then, beads of mannan-poly (vinyl alcohol) graft copolymer were prepared from the beads of acetylated graft copolymer by saponification and subsequent crpsslinking. Using columns packed with these beads, exclusion limits and capacity ratios were measured by eluting water soluble materials such as poly-(oxyethylene) and ethylene glycol. The capacity ratios and exclusion limits of the gels prepared from mannan-vinyl alcohol graft copolymer were higher than those of poly (vinyl-alcohol) gels. It was estimated that these behaviors were attributed to the existence of highly hydrophilic micro mannan gel phases in the poly(vinyl alcohol) gel matrix. Consequently, these gels were found to be useful as packing materials for the separation of water soluble oligomers. © 1984, The Chemical Society of Japan. All rights reserved.