Applications of ultrasonic attenuation measurements in the studies of macromolecular conformational behaviors

The applicability of ultrasonic attenuation measurements in the studies of the conformational behaviors of macromolecules in aqueous phase and hydroge ls was studied with glutaraldehyde(Glu) cross linked chitosan(CS) hydrogel containing poly(N - isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and the aqueous solution of poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) as model systems. It was shown that the co nformations adopted by the macromolecules are well related to the values of the attenuation parameter(cr). The open coil conformation corresponds to a smaller ct value, and a compact coil conformation corresponds to a larger a value. It does not follow, however, that the more compact the coil confor mation, the greater the a value, In fact, a too compact coil conformation c orresponds to a quite small a value. Based upon these studies, it is predic ted that the ultrasonic attenuation measurements may be developed into a si mple, effective and non - destructive technique for the studies of macromol ecular behaviors in aqueous and hydrogel phases.