Collagen stabilization and modification using a polyepoxide, triglycidyl isocyanurate

This paper reports a study on the crosslinking behaviour of dermal collagen with the polyepoxide triglycidyl isocyanurate (TEPIC), which is thought to introduce a specific stabilization effect into a collagen matrix. TEPIC shows a higher reactivity towards collagen compared to glycerol triglycidyl ether, a water-soluble epoxide with the same tri-functionality but having an aliphatic backbone in its molecular structure, and one of the most commonly used epoxide monomers reported in the literature. Significant stabilization of the collagen matrix treated with TEPIC has been shown in our work, based on the examination of hydrothermal properties, thermal degradation and enzyme degradation properties, amino acid analysis and measurement of mechanical properties. Collagen's dimensional stability was also found to be improved, from tensile testing and fibre morphology observations (here by scanning electron microscopy). The overall stabilization effect of TEPIC is comparable or better than the conventionally used crosslinker, glutaraldehyde, and so implies that a stable three-dimensional, covalent network is formed by the TEPIC within the collagen supermolecule, instead of the two-dimensional crosslinked bridging systems in the case of glutaraldehyde. These results also suggest that the additional stabilization by TEPIC may relate to its triazine nucleus, which introduces a more rigid conformation into the collagen polypeptide chains. In addition, the treated collagen matrix has been found to have increased adsorption ability for anionic dyes. This study has shown that TEPIC can be considered as one of the more effective aldehyde alternatives, which could have a potential significance in leather and textile industrial applications. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.