Formaldehyde‐free zein fiber—preparation and investigation

Cytocompatible cross-linking of electrospun zein fibers for the development of water-stable tissue engineering scaffolds

“…Since the electrospun fibers were unstable and became film-like when immersed in the cross-linking solution, this wet cross-linking method was unsuitable for the modification of electrospun protein mats. In similar research on cross-linking plant proteins, micro-and nano-scale zein fibers were cross-linked using citric acid as the cross-linking agent and sodium hypophosphite monohydrate (SHP) as the catalyst and cross-linking was carried out in the dry state at high temperature (150-175 °C) [31,32]. However, the catalyst SHP was reported to be cytotoxic [33,34] and hence not suitable to cross-link electrospun fibers used for biomedical applications.…”

Novel Protein Fibers from Wheat Gluten

“…The breaking tenacity of wheat gluten fibers is about 75% of that of wool but about 10% and 50% higher than the tenacity of 100% soyprotein and zein fibers reported in literature. 15,16 The breaking elongation of wheat gluten fibers is similar to that of wool but much higher than that of the soyprotein and zein fibers as given in Table 1. Although soyprotein-and zein-based fibers with strength and breaking elongations similar to those of wool have been reported during the 1940s, neither the soyprotein nor the zein fibers with properties reported during the 1940s have been produced lately.…”

“…Similarly, regenerated protein fibers produced from soybean and zein do not show any preferred orientation either. 15,18 The low % crystallinity and the poor orientation of the protein polymers with respect to the fiber axis should be the main reasons for the relatively low breaking tenacity of the regenerated protein fibers as compared to the natural protein fibers wool and silk.…”

“…Although soyprotein-and zein-based fibers with strength and breaking elongations similar to those of wool have been reported during the 1940s, neither the soyprotein nor the zein fibers with properties reported during the 1940s have been produced lately. 12,[15][16][17][18][19]33 The Young's modulus and moisture regain of wheat gluten fibers are similar to those of wool, and, therefore, products made from wheat gluten fibers should be soft and flexible as wool if similar denier fibers are used. No reports are available on the modulus of 100% soyprotein and zein fibers.…”

“…Therefore, researchers have more recently attempted to produce fibers from zein, casein, and soyprotein and in addition from the blends of these proteins. [15][16][17][18][19] Unfortunately, none of these attempts have been commercially successful to produce 100% protein fibers mainly due to the high cost and poor quality of the fibers.…”