Mathematical discretization of size-exclusion chromatograms applied to commercial corn maltodextrins

Discretization of a size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) chromatogram is shown here to be an important calculation for characterizing the distribution of a polydisperse polymer, especially when the polydispersity is large. Commercial poly-glucose maltodextrins are known to have such a polydispersity. A mathematical discretization method with Gaussian peaks centered on each individual degree of polymerization is proposed and is performed on the entire SEC chromatogram for three different grades of corn maltodextrins. Because SEC and high-performance anion exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD) are based on different separation mechanisms, they can be considered orthogonal techniques, and HPAEC-PAD was therefore used to validate the SEC discretization procedure. Because this validation proved satisfactory for all commercially available oligomers, the discretization is extended to all of their SEC chromatograms. Comparing the number-average molar weight and the weight-average molar weight before and after the mathematical discretization verifies that such a mathematical treatment does not denaturate the chromatogram. This approach tentatively leads to a more exhaustive characterization of a broadly polydisperse sample, such as maltodextrins, than was previously available, as it (i) gets rid of the apparent, chemically irrelevant, continuous molar weight distribution obtained by raw SEC and (ii) addresses the current detection and quantitation limits of the HPAEC-PAD technique without any sample treatment.