No abstract

Summary: Three different methods of deproteinization, i.e. saponification, surfactant washing and enzymatic treatment were employed to unravel the effect of deproteinized on the properties of natural rubber (NR) latex. The cleavage of proteins in NR latex was found to proceed with concomitant formation of low molecular weight polypeptides. This results in a lowering in gel formation of the enzyme‐treated latex, indicating modification of the remaining proteins at the rubber chain‐end. Washing NR latex with surfactant would efficiently reduce and remove proteins from NR latex particles through denaturation and transferring them to the serum phase. The relatively stable gel formed during storage of surfactant‐washed NR latex is an indication of the absence of branch formation of proteins at the rubber molecule terminal. Saponification by strong alkali would hydrolyze the proteins and phospholipids adsorbed on the latex particle surface. The reason of the significantly higher gel formed in saponified NR latex is still not clear. The present study shows that deproteinization treatments result in modification of the proteins at the surface of NR latex particles and also those freely‐suspended in the serum. The cleavage or the denaturation of the rubber proteins during purification by washing has a profound effect on the properties of the deproteinized NR latex upon storage, in particular the thermal oxidative aging properties of the rubber obtained.

The rubbers from small and large rubber particles were separated from the serum and cream phases of centrifuged fresh Hevea latex, respectively. The small rubber particles (SRP) consist of rubber molecules showing a unimodal molecular weight distribution (MWD), with a peak-top value falling between the two peak values of the bimodal MWD observed in rubbers from the large rubber particles (LRP). The rubbers in LRP from mature trees and SRP from seedlings are polyisoprene molecules terminated by phospholipids comprising branching points, while those in SRP from mature trees are presumed to be linear molecules containing no phospholipid terminal. The serum rubber was found to be soft and viscous rubber differing from the cream rubber containing in LRP. Thus, it can be presumed that the particle size of rubber latex is an important parameter influencing the MW, MWD and physical properties of Hevea rubber.