Molecular Weight Determination of Palm Olein Polyols by Gel Permeation Chromatography Using Polyether Polyols Calibration

Abstract

Abstract Natural oil polyols have been intensively developed and successfully used for the production of various polymers, notably polyurethanes. The need to access the average molecular weight (MW) and the MW distribution (MWD) has led to the efforts to have a precise and reliable determination method. A series of commercial polyether polyols, with well‐defined MW, was used as a gel permeation chromatography (GPC) calibration standard to determine the MW of palm olein polyols. This GPC analysis was compared to the one calibrated against the commercially available polystyrene (PS) standards and to the number‐average molecular weight ( M n ) obtained via vapor pressure osmometry (VPO) technique. For example, the M n obtained for palm olein polyol E‐135 calibrated against polyether polyols was 2,537 Da, which was closer to the M n via VPO (1,618 Da), than the M n obtained using PS as calibration standards (3,836 Da). Hence, this GPC analysis using polyether polyols as calibration standards can offer reassured determination of MWD of palm olein polyols.