Argentation Chromatography for monounsaturated Polyolefin Oligomers

Multidimensional chromatography based on two-dimensional high performance liquid chromatography on-line coupled to gas chromatography (on-line HPLC–HPLC–GC) enables the separate analysis of saturated, monounsaturated and aromatic hydrocarbons in packaging materials like polyolefins or paperboard and their migrates into foods. Since normal-phase HPLC on silica gel did not preseparate saturated from monounsaturated hydrocarbons, a separation step on a normal-phase HPLC column treated in the laboratory with an optimized amount of silver nitrate was added. The preparation of this HPLC column and the instrumental set-up are described, followed by examples showing the potential of the method. In a preliminary investigation of 11 polyolefin granulates for food contact up to 40% monounsaturated hydrocarbons among the oligomers C16–35 were determined.