Specific interactions in silk fibroin-poly(potassium acrylate) blends

FT-IR spectroscopy was utilized to study the specific interactions in silk fibroin (SF) and poly(potassium acrylate) (PAA-K) blends. Combining the stu dy of model complexes. e.g., mixtures of SF with KCl, KBr, and ZnCl2, it is suggested that two kinds of specific interaction exist in the SF/PAA-K ble nds. One is hydrogen bonding between the C=O group of PAA-K and groups of e lectron acceptor in SF, and the other is the electrostatic interaction in K +-amide specific coordination complex. The final result is probably the coe xistence of these two mechanisms of specific interaction in the SF/PAA-K bl ends. DSC results also show that SF and PAA-K could be mixed significantly.