Poly and Copoly(N-vinylamide)s and Their Use In Capillary Electrophoresis

A composition comprising a buffer, a denaturant, and a uncrosslinked water soluble polymer having the form poly(M1xM2y), or a salt thereof, comprising one or more monomers of type M1, wherein:

• (a) y is zero;
• (b) each monomer in the polymer is of type M1;
• (c) x is an integer ranging from 1 to 5 and represents the number of monomer subtypes of type M1 that are present in the polymer;
• and
• (d) each monomer subtype of type M1 in the polymer is from:
• N-vinylhexamide, N-vinylheptamide, N-vinyloctamide, N-vinylnonamide, N-vinyldecamide, N-vinylformamide, N-methyl-N-vinylformamide, N-vinylacetamide, N-methyl-N-vinylacetamide, N-methyl-N-vinylpropamide, N-methyl-N-vinylbutamide, N-methyl-N-vinylpentamide, N-methyl-N-vinylhexamide, N-methyl-N-vinylheptamide, N-methyl-N-vinyloctamide, N-methyl-N-vinylnonamide, N-methyl-N-vinyldecamide, N-ethyl-N-vinylformamide, N-ethyl-N-vinylacetamide, N-ethyl-N-vinylpropamide, N-ethyl-N-vinylbutamide, N-ethyl-N-vinylpentamide, N-ethyl-N-vinylhexamide, N-ethyl-N-vinylheptamide, N-ethyl-N-vinyloctamide, N-ethyl-N-vinylnonamide, N-ethyl-N-vinyldecamide, N-n-propyl-N-vinylformamide, N-n-propyl-N-vinylacetamide, N-n-propyl-N-vinylpropamide, N-n-propyl-N-vinylbutamide, N-n-propyl-N-vinylpentamide, N-n-propyl-N-vinylhexamide, N-n-propyl-N-vinylheptamide, N-n-propyl-N-vinyloctamide, N-n-propyl-N-vinylnonamide, N-n-propyl-N-vinyldecamide, N-iso-propyl-N-vinylformamide, N-iso-propyl-N-vinylacetamide, N-iso-propyl-N-vinylpropamide, N-iso-propyl-N-vinylbutamide, N-iso-propyl-N-vinylpentamide, N-iso-propyl-N-vinylhexamide, N-iso-propyl-N-vinylheptamide, N-iso-propyl-N-vinyloctamide, N-iso-propyl-N-vinylnonamide and N-iso-propyl-N-vinyldecamide.