Polyelectrolyte polypeptide scaling laws via mechanical and dielectric relaxation measurements

Experimental results from mechanical viscoelastic as well as dielectric relaxation times were compared to theoretical expectations utilizing polymer scaling theory. Viscoelastic relaxation of a hydrogel at 33% relative humidity fabricated from co-poly-L-(glutamic acid₄, tyrosine₁) [PLEY(4:1)] crosslinked with poly-L-lysine scaled with concentration according to reptation dynamics. High frequency dielectric relaxation of aqueous copolymer PLEY(4:1) scaled with concentration as an ideal chain and aqueous Poly-L-glutamic acid scaled as an extended chain. The study shows that two seemingly different measurement methods can yield information about the state of polymer chain conformation in situ. (paper)