Prediction of Molecular Weight and Molecular Weight Distribution of Two-Component Polyethylene Glycol Mixtures

Blending is a standard way to adjust the physicochemical properties of polymeric materials intendedfor different pharmaceutical applications, especially considering the limited number of approvedpolymers by regulatory agencies. Blending of polyethylene glycols (PEGs) of different molecularweights leads to polymeric bases with varying properties for pharmaceutical applications, but howcan the average molecular weight (AMW) and molecular weight distribution (MWD) of the mixturesbe known by understanding the same parameters for the initial pure components? To find an answerto these questions, gel permeation chromatograms (GPC) of six different PEGs in terms of molecularweight (۱۰۳۱, ۱۸۲۲, ۴۱۳۶, ۴۷۲۱, ۷۵۹۶, and ۱۳۰۸۹ g/mol) were deconvoluted into Gaussian signals,and the chromatograms corresponding to the mixture of PEGs (in different weight percentages) werecalculated by convoluting the Gaussian signals. The computational findings were validated byexperimental determination of some randomly selected mixtures, supporting a good agreement (۶%,۴.۶%, and ۱.۴۹% for Mn, Mw, and PDI, respectively) between the computational and theexperimental findings.

کلیدواژه ها:

Polymer characterization ، Polyethylene glycol ، Mixtures ، Molecular Weight ، MolecularWeight Distribution.