Corporate Retrospective 2007: Viscotek

Viscotek – A Full-Service Supplier of GPC Products and Services

There are several suppliers of components of gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Only two companies today qualify as full-service GPC suppliers and Viscotek is one of them. However, we did not start that way as Viscotek Corporation began in 1984 with one product — The 4-capillary Differential Viscometer. Viscotek added an RI detector a few years later to its product line, then a low angle light scattering detector (LALS), and finally a UV detector to complete the GPC detector package in 2001.

In 2002, an integrated degasser, pump, autosampler was added, making it the world's first complete GPC system from a single manufacturer and operating under a single software. A model has been developed recently specifically for analysis of polyolefins at high temperature. Recently, Viscotek has developed proprietary GPC columns. In addition to the standard packings for organic soluble polymers (styrene-divinylbenzene) and for aqueous soluble polymers (methacrylates), Viscotek has developed specialty columns for polar and highly polar organic polymers and for cationic polymers.

This brief history of product development shows that Viscotek has long been committed to being a full-service GPC supplier. However, full-service goes beyond instrumentation. Viscotek provides installation and validation service for all its instruments onsite. Training schools are offered at our headquarters in Houston, Texas. GPC Methods development is available for difficult polymers and our analytical service can meet your needs in overflow situations. And as they say, if you do not see what you need, ask for it. We can customize instruments, columns, software, etc. Some of our products today began as custom requests by our customers.

Congratulations to LCGC on their 25th anniversary.

Max Haney

Max Haney

Founder of Viscotek

Houston, Texas