Capillary zone electrophoresis for the characterization of latex particles

Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) was applied to the separation of acrylic styrene copolymer emulsion particles. Fast separations could be performed on samples containing chemically identical latex particles of different size, as well as on samples with particles of the same size but differing in chemical composition. The developed method was also used for the analysis of water soluble fractions of urethane dispersions. Additionally, the physical interaction between different particles (e.g., acrylic and urethane particles) could be studied using this method. The separation mechanism is based on the zeta potential of the particles and the relaxation effect under the applied analytical conditions.