Abstract:

In order to develop and utilize feather and down protein resources, the solubility of feather and down was studied firstly in different dissolution systems including trenary solvent, lithium bromide and ionic liquid ([Amim]Cl), and the solubility under different process parameters was tested, and the morphological changes of feather in the process of dissolution were monitored by automatic image acquisition and recognition system. The results show that feather and down have low solubility while being dissolved with ternary solvents and lithium bromide, but could be dissolved completely in the [Amim]Cl ionic liquid; at the same time, the [Amim]Cl dessolution system of faether and down has been analyzed by UV-Vis and FT-IR. The UV-Vis results show that a characteristic absorption exist at a wavelength of 312 nm and the quantitative analysis curve of protein is given; and FT-IR results show that desulfide bond of feather and down protein can be destroyed, without destroying the protein conformation when being dissolved in the ionic liquid of [Amim]Cl. 

Key words: feather and down, ionic liquid, dissolution, spectrum characteristic