Structural Study of Natural and Synthetic Polymers

In the second part, the molecular composition, size and conformation of zein, corn prolamines, was examined with MALDI-MS, TEM, SEC3, SAXS and viscometry. MALDI-MS is demonstrated to be a superior technique to study the molecular weight and composition of zein proteins than conventional SDS-PAGE. The observed large particle size from TEM and SEC3 compared to the predicted value from the molecular weight suggested that zein tends to form oligomeric structures. The denaturation behavior of zero was also studied using various denaturants. The results showed most denaturation agents, such as pH, guanidine hydrochloride and DTT, didn't denature zein. Temperature and SDS may cause some denaturation as suggested from the increase of the intrinsic viscosity; the change of intrinsic viscosity was not sufficient to indicate coil-like conformation.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Materials Science and Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Wang, Jinfeng

Contributors dc:contributor

• Geil, Phillip H.

• Chemistry, Polymer

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3160966

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/82759