Raman and Infrared Investigations of the Nature of Intracellular Water.

The collagen fibers were immersed in water for 12 hr. The surface water was next rigorously removed with tissue and the fibers air dryed for 10 min. The fibers were then weighed. This weight corresponded to zero dessicating time. We next dessicated the fibers for 16 hr over P2O5 under vacuum and reweighed the fibers, and we repeated this procedure every 16 hr until 136 hr had elapsed. The rapid fall within 0 to 16 hr could, of course, result from the rapid loss of surface water or other loosely held water. However, some evidence to the contrary may arise from infrared spectra shown next. All infrared spectra were obtained at increments of 16 hr dessicating time. The first infrared spectra corresponded to zero time.