Dissolution Characteristics of Protein in an Ionic Liquid

摘要

A new and highly efficient direct solvent, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([BMIMJCI) was synthesized and used to dissolve three kinds of protein, gelatin, casein and skin collagen. The difference in solubility of three kinds of protein in [BMIMJCI was investigated. The result indicates that all proteins can be dissolved in the [BMIM]CI and the solubility is related to the temperature, high temperature is beneficial for improving the solubility. With the increase of concentration, the viscosity tends to increase. FTIR, XRD, TG were employed to characterize the structure and property changes of protein before and after dissolution, the results reveal that the chemical structure and thermal stability of proteins show almost no changes except for an obvious decrease of crystallinity of collagen, no chemical degradation can be observed which reveals that the dissolving process of protein in ionic liquid is a purely physical process rather than a chemical one.