Extraction of poly ethylene glycol from methoxypoly ethylene glycol and characterization using gel permeation cromatography

Identifier:  TFG:2578

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TFG2578

Authors:  Pérez Domínguez, Álvaro

Abstract:
In the production of methoxy polyethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol can be formed as a by-product, decreasing its quality. In this work, three different procedures are compared for the extraction of polyethylene glycol from methoxy polyethylene glycol for its liquid chromatography and gel permeation chromatography analysis, since in this way, the molecular weight of polyethylene glycol can be known, which is the main objective of this project. To carry out this extraction process, different parameters were evaluated in order to achieve a maximum separation between both products, such as the solubility in various solvents, or their retention in chromatographic columns depending on the mobile phase used. The HPLC technique was used to evaluate if the separation of the products had developed correctly. Subsequently, the GPC analysis was carried out, in order to determine the molecular weight of the extracted product. The last extraction procedure used produced better results. By developing this method, it was possible to determine the molecular weight of polyethylene glycol, and validate the initial hypothesis that the molecular weight of polyethylene glycol is lower than what firstly could be expected.