Briefly, the modification method involved: 1) dissolving the PGA in a solvent (e.g., a water miscible aprotic solvent such as dioxane, dimethylformamide, 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone and dimethyl sulfoxide); 2) adding a proton absorbing reagent (e.g., 4-methyl morpholine) in the amount of about one equivalent per titratable carboxylic acid; 3) adding about a 2 to about a 100 molar excess of an amine-r