Degradation of Silk Fibroin by Acid and Alkali

Silk is frequently subjected to acid or alkaline solutions during fabrication and use. This paper presents a résumé of the meager literature of partially hydrolyzed fibroin, and a quantitative description of the effect of the concentration of the hydrolytic agent on the course of the acid and alkaline degradation of silk fibroin and wild silk fibroin as followed by weight, nitrogen, wet warp breaking strength, and elongation at breaking load of the residual fibroin.