Mark-Houwink Parameters of Biosynthetic Poly(γ-glutamic acid) in Aqueous Solution

A combined viscosity–light scattering–gel permeation chromatography (GPC) study was carried out on bacterially produced poly(γ-glutamic acid) (PGGA). PGGA samples with weight-average molecular weights ranging from 8×104 up to 8×105 g·mol–1 dissolved in phosphate buffer at 0.13 M ionic strength were used. It was found that the Mark–Houwink relation is acceptably obeyed, giving K and a values of 1.84×10–6 dL·g–1 and 1.16, respectively. As expected, GPC analysis showed that PGGA does not follow the universal calibration plot and that deviations can not be avoided by modifying the ionic strength.