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Cellulose-Keratin Supramolecular Composite: Conformation by Combined Fourier Transform Spectroscopy and Partial Least Square Regression Coefficient


Ngesa E. Mush

Abstract

Keratin and cellulose are important nano components with excellent mechanical and biological properties. However, the preparation route through dissolution in organic solvents to make manmade materials is challenging    because    of    their    intensive    bonding    interaction characteristics.  Structural  modification  of  the  natural  attributes  is difficult to maintain after polymer regeneration. A new technique by a green  route  was  devised  to  dissolve  keratin  from  wool,  hair,  and feather   with   cellulosein   situusing   1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride [BMIm] + Cl-ionic liquid as a solvent. The mixture of keratin and   cellulose   homogeneously   and   synergistically   resulted   in   a supramolecular composite film through non-derivatized mechanochemical interactions. The structural properties of α–helix and β-sheets of the regenerated keratin investigated using a Fourier transform spectroscope under transmission mode showed a successful regeneration. Using chemometrics software, the  partial least square regression coefficient technique (PLSR) predicted the realistic α–helix and β-sheet  content  values.  Wool  showed the highest α–helix,  and feathers demonstrated minor content of the secondary structure after regeneration. Regarding the β-sheet form, the feather has regained the most  and  wool  the  little  content  after  regeneration.  Our  data  is impressively  good  compared  to  the  reported  results  for  wool  (the highest  value  was  33  %  of  the  helix  for  wool)  in  the  literature.  The highest values were 52 % for α–helix from wool and 44 % β-sheet for the  feather.  As  expected  for  all  the  keratin  sources,  the  α–helix structure decreased, and the β-sheet form increased with the cellulose content.  The  use  of  biopolymers  and  the  high  temperatures  for dissolution is exciting. The preparation route of supramolecular films to achieve multifunctional properties such as strength and biological activities  is  an  inspiration  to  the  green  route  akin  the  polymer  melt processing techniques.


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eISSN: 2619-8789
print ISSN: 1821-536X