Ionic liquids: Solvents for protein polymer processing

In this abstract, we report on the use of ionic liquids as novel solvents in the processing of protein polymers. We show how ionic liquids (ILs) can be used to dissolve and coagulate silk. We have selected silk as our protein polymer and show how the properties of regenerated silk fibroin (RSF) can be tuned by careful selection of the coagulating ionic liquid solvent.