Study on the intercalation of γ-PGA in montmorillonite

By mixing Poly(-glutamic acid)(-PGA) and montmorillonite(MMT) in water solution,γ-PGA/MMT composites were prepared.The influences of the molecular weights of γ-PGA,the intercalation time and intercalation temperature on the intercalation effect were studied.In addition,the conformation of γ-PGA in the middle of the layers of MMT was studied.The results show that all γ-PGA with different molecular weights could intercalate into MMT.The interlayer space of MMT increased with the increase of intercalation time,gained the maximum value after 8h,and then decreased slightly.The interlayer space of MMT increased with the increasing of intercalation temperature,but decreased when the temperature higher than 60℃.The study on the conformation of γ-PGA demonstrates that γ-PGA has α-helix conformation,and arrays a monolayer in the middle of the layers of MMT.