Abstract

Recently described PELC stoichiometry has been verified for the reaction between collagen fibers (BAT) and oligoelectrolytes (OEL) and its dependence on reaction conditions, structural and molecular parameters of OEL. It has been found that within a certain region of reaction conditions there occurs a stabilization of the chemical composition of the resultant compound for each of the OEL studied which correspond to stoichiometric polyelectrolyte complex of the pendent-pendent type. As has been shown by measuring the shrinkage temperature of tanned BAT samples their hydrothermal stability rises with the increasing level of irreversibly bound OEL up to the point of formation of a stoichiometric PELC; hydrothermal stability does not change further with increases in bound OEL above this point (stoichiometry). Further, it has been found that, unlike stoichiometry, hydrothermal stability is significantly dependent on the structural and molecular parameters of the OEL.