Insights into the miscibility characteristics of plastic-mimetic polypeptide with hydroxypropylmethylcellulose: Investigation of thermal degradability and intermolecular interactions.

In this investigation, we integrated the parent recurring sequence of the plastic-derived polypeptide, poly[0.8(AVGVP),0.2(AEGVP)] (A, V, G, P, and E represents Alanine, Valine, Glycine, Proline, and Glutamic acid respectively) followed by characterization with inverse transition temperature, C, and H-NMR spectroscopy. The miscibility attributes of poly[0.8(AVGVP),0.2(AEGVP)] with Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose was examined both in aqueous and solid-phase. The Huggins' co-efficient [K], the intrinsic viscosity [η], the interaction parameters ΔB and μ suggested by Chee, ΔK and β recommended by Jiang and Han, α by Sun, Δ[η] by Garcia showed that the polypeptide was miscible with HPMC in all proportions. DSC studies revealed single T values, and TGA manifested the enhanced thermal stability for all the proportions compared with their individuals. Further, verified the results by SEM and XRD. The FTIR evidenced existence of intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the two constituent polymers that caused the miscible blend system.