Abstract
A gravimetric method for measuring deuterium–hydrogen exchange between light and heavy waters and macromolecular solids has been applied to the fibrous protein, silk fibroin (Bombyxmori). The accessibility of the protein to water vapor can be estimated from the amount of exchange, and it appears to be related to the amorphous regions of the fiber. A comparison of the amount of exchange with the water monolayer content as obtained from the adsorption isotherm and the equilibrium evaporation technique suggests that the water molecules use the polar side chains of the amino acid residues as the sites of primary adsorption.
Publisher
Canadian Science Publishing
Subject
Organic Chemistry,General Chemistry,Catalysis