Elucidation of hydration dynamics of locust bean gum-collagen composites by impedance and thermoporometry

The intricacy of the different parameters involved in the hydration dynamics of collagen influences its performance as biomaterials. This work presents the molecular motions of collagen originating from the solvents and locust bean gum (LBG), which reveal the changes in solvation dynamics of the biopolymers affecting the surface as well as interfacial properties. Water, as a probe liquid bound in collagen has been investigated using a combination of thermoporometry, ATR-FTIR, circular dichroic spectroscopy, dielectric spectroscopy and SEM to explore the influence of LEG on collagen with respect to static and dynamic behaviour. The relaxation process of collagen in the frequency range of 0.01 Hz to 10(5) Hz and thermoporometry results indicate that the interfacial hydration dynamics are dependent on the applied concentration of LBG. This investigation explicitly reflects the rearrangements of the structural water clusters around the charged amino acids of collagen. These results can be employed to redesign the approach towards the development of collagen based biomaterials. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.