NMR studies on water and polymer diffusion in dextran gels. Influence of potassium ions on microstructure formation and gelation mechanism

At room temperature aqueous solutions of dextrans with concentrations >25% (w/w) exhibit a sol‐gel transition in the presence of >1.0 M potassium chloride. In dextrans the gelation was unexpected due to missing anionic groups that usually provide the binding sites for cations. The quantitative investigation of the gel formation is based on changes of the diffusibility of water and dextran chains. The apparent diffusion coefficients of bulk water (in the order of 10−6 cm2/s) and of water trapped in the junction zones as well as of polymer chains (in the order of 10−7 to 10−8 cm2/s) are determined by employing pulsed field gradient stimulated echo (PFGSTE) NMR. The restricted diffusion of bulk water in viscous sols and in soft and rigid gels has been quantitatively analyzed providing data for interbarrier distances (pore size), permeabilities of the diffusion barriers (density of junction zones) and interbarrier diffusion coefficients of water. Based on already published x‐ray structure data and in accordance with the diffusion data presented in this paper “potassium‐bonding” is assumed to be the most important interaction for the formation of a microstructure and for the stabilization of crosslinks. The ionic radius of the potassium ion perfectly fits to the cage established by six oxygen atoms of glucose units of three polymer chains. Other cations, such as Li+, Na+, Rb+ and Cs+, according to their nonfitting ionic radii, do not provoke dextran gelation under these conditions. The mechanism of the transitions from sol to soft gel and further to rigid gel is discussed on the basis of restricted diffusion and x‐ray structure data.