keratin were 10,240 and 10,000 respectively. This GPC data agrees
with published data that feather keratin consists of 96 amino acid
residues and has a molecular weight of 10,206 [6]. The polydispersion
degree was at the level of 1.024, which shows that the
extracted keratin was uniform in its molecular weight. However,
the yield of extracted keratin was less 25%, probably because keratin
was degraded to amino acids and small peptides and not
separated from reaction mixture completely.
4. Conclusions
The eco-friendly ionic liquid [HOEMIm][NTf2] could be a suitable
solvent and catalyst for dissolving feathers. To our knowledge,
this should be the first report concerning the dissolution of feathers
in a hydrophobic ionic liquid and an easy separation of extracted
keratin.