Swelling of iota-carrageenan gels prepared with various CaCl2 content: A fluorescence study

Iota carrageenan gels prepared with various CaCl2 content were completely dried and then swelled in water vapor. Steady-state fluorescence ( SSF) technique was used to monitor the swelling process of each iota carrageenan gels at various temperatures. Pyranine was used as a fluorescence probe. Apparent fluorescence intensity, I increased as swelling time increased for all gel samples. The increase in I was modelled using Li-Tanaka equation from which the swelling time constants, tau(1) and cooperative diffusion coefficients, D-c were determined. It was observed that D-c increased as the swelling temperature was increased. On the other hand at each temperature, it was seen that D-c decreased as CaCl2 content was increased. Activation energies for swelling were obtained and found to be 60.5, 61.0, 61.5 and 62.8 kJmol(-1) for the gels prepared with increasing amount of CaCl2 content.