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Structural investigation of the poly(pentapeptide) of elastin, poly(GVGVP), in the solid state
Author(s) -
RodríguezCabello J. C.,
Alonso M.,
Díez M. I.,
Caballero M. I.,
Herguedas M. M.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
macromolecular chemistry and physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1521-3935
pISSN - 1022-1352
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-3935(19990801)200:8<1831::aid-macp1831>3.0.co;2-v
Subject(s) - polymer , hydrogen bond , intramolecular force , metastability , amorphous solid , materials science , pentapeptide repeat , solid state , side chain , chemical physics , chemistry , polymer chemistry , polymer science , crystallography , molecule , organic chemistry , composite material , peptide , biochemistry
Poly(GVGVP) is the head of a novel group of biopolymers showing exceptional potential for future applications in different fields such as biomedical, environmental, energy or industrial. Taking into account their future development, further knowledge is needed to understand the molecular basis of their remarkable behaviour and other structural and technical parameters. This paper is devoted to a particular task of this challenge: the structural study of its solid state, which is approached for the first time in this work. Thermal, wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction and vibrational Raman analysis were used. On the whole, all the observations are consistent with the existence of a metastable amorphous phase composed by polymer chains without apparent conformational order. The main structural property is the existence of an extensive and dense net of hydrogen bonds, which seemed to comprise the majority of the amide groups present. Thermal treatment induces structural changes on this polymer. Part of the hydrogen bonds broke and the polymer chains reorganise to achieve a stable state. This state is non‐crystalline in the classical sense and irreversible. Thus, due to the thermal input, the polymer chains had gained enough mobility to optimise their inter and intramolecular interactions and to fulfil their entropic requirements.