Packing material for size exclusion chromatography and method for producing the same

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a packing material suitable for use as a packing material for size exclusion chromatography for fractionation that requires large-scale treatment, the packing material being capable of being produced by a simple process and reducing column pressure drop even when the particle diameter is small, and is to provide a method for producing the packing material. In the present invention, a packing material for size exclusion chromatography is obtained by a production process including polymerizing glycerol 1,3-dimethacrylate and glycidyl methacrylate in the presence of a polymerization initiator, hydrophilizing the resulting porous particles made of a copolymer using a sugar alcohol, and then opening the rings of remaining glycidyl groups using a mineral acid.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for producing a packing material for size exclusion chromatography, comprising the following steps (1) to (3):
 (1) a first step of polymerizing monomers comprising at least glycerol 1,3-dimethacrylate and glycidyl methacrylate with a diluent being added using a radical polymerization initiator in an aqueous medium to provide porous particles containing glycidyl groups;   (2) a second step of dispersing the porous particles containing glycidyl groups obtained in the first step into an aqueous solution containing a dissolved sugar alcohol, adding an aqueous solution containing an alkali metal hydroxide, and heating and stirring the resulting mixture to bond the sugar alcohol to the glycidyl groups; and   (3) a third step of dispersing the porous particles with the sugar alcohol bonded obtained in the second step into an aqueous solution containing a mineral acid and heating and stirring the resulting dispersion to open the rings of remaining glycidyl groups.   
     
     
         2 . The method for producing a packing material according to  claim 1 , wherein a ring-opening rate of the glycidyl groups after completion of the third step is 95% or more. 
     
     
         3 . The method for producing a packing material according to  claim 1 , wherein the porous particles containing glycidyl groups comprise a copolymer comprising 6 to 29 mol % of glycerol 1,3-dimethacrylate and 71 to 94 mol % of glycidyl methacrylate as monomer units. 
     
     
         4 . The method for producing a packing material according to  claim 2 , wherein the porous particles containing glycidyl groups comprise a copolymer comprising 6 to 29 mol % of glycerol 1,3-dimethacrylate and 71 to 94 mol % of glycidyl methacrylate as monomer units. 
     
     
         5 . The method for producing a packing material according to  claim 1 , wherein the sugar alcohol is sorbitol. 
     
     
         6 . The method for producing a packing material according to  claim 2 , wherein the sugar alcohol is sorbitol. 
     
     
         7 . The method for producing a packing material according to  claim 3 , wherein the sugar alcohol is sorbitol. 
     
     
         8 . The method for producing a packing material according to  claim 4 , wherein the sugar alcohol is sorbitol. 
     
     
         9 . A packing material for size exclusion chromatography, comprising hydrophilic porous particles having a volume-average particle diameter of 8 to 15 μm,
 wherein a pressure drop per 30 cm length of the packing material packed into a column is 1.2 MPa or less at a linear velocity of water of 100 cm/h, 
 wherein a hydrophilicity value represented by an elution volume ratio between 1-butanol and ethylene glycol is 1.0 to 1.4, 
 wherein an ionicity value represented by an elution volume ratio between lysozyme and myoglobin is 0.8 to 1.2, and 
 wherein an exclusion limit molecular weight of pullulan is 1,000,000 or more.