Change of Silk Fibroin Molecular Mass During Dissolution in Ionic Liquids

Silk fibroin is a unique protein polymer with broad potential for medical applications. Fibroin is significantly degraded and the materials obtained from it have poor mechanical characteristics if silk fiber is dissolved in traditional solvents. The present work used gel electrophoresis to study the dissolution of fibroin in ionic liquids. Fibroin degradation was shown to increase with increasing temperature and dissolution time. The optimal conditions for dissolution that allowed the heavy and light chains of fibroin to be preserved intact were proposed.