Rheo-attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy: a new tool to study biopolymers
Rheo-attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy: a new tool to study biopolymers
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DOI：
10.1039/c0cp02599b
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发表时间：
2011-01-01
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Holland, Chris
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Boulet-Audet, Maxime;Vollrath, Fritz;Holland, Chris
虽然流变学是研究未纺丝的机械性能的参考技术，但我们对产生它们的结构和动力学知之甚少。通过结合红外光谱和剪切力来研究丝素蛋白的转化，我们正在引入一种新的工具来填补我们知识中的这一缺口。本文利用偏振衰减全反射傅里叶变换红外光谱，在剪切作用下对蚕丝的转化过程进行了动态研究，揭示了蚕丝蛋白质的原位构象和分子取向。我们的结果表明，丝素转化过程始于蛋白质的预先排列，随后是β-折叠形成的快速增长，然后是增长的减速。我们认为，该工具将提供进一步的洞察不仅丝绸，而且任何生物聚合物解决方案，打开了一个新的窗口，生物材料。
Whilst rheology is the reference technique to study the mechanical properties of unspun silk, we know little of the structure and the dynamics that generate them. By coupling infrared spectroscopy and shearing forces to study silk fibroin conversion, we are introducing a novel tool to address this gap in our knowledge. Here the silk conversion process has been studied dynamically using polarized attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy whilst applying shear, thus revealing silk protein conformation and molecular orientation in situ. Our results show that the silk conversion process starts with a pre-alignment of the proteins followed by a rapid growth of the beta-sheet formation and then a subsequent deceleration of the growth. We propose that this tool will provide further insight into not only silk but any biopolymer solution, opening a new window into biological materials.