The adsorption of Cu(Ⅱ) on silk sericin and the physical properties of the adsorbed sericin were investigated. In the acidic region (pH 2.5∼5), the amounts of adsorption of Cu(Ⅱ) on sericin increased according to the increase of pH values. In the alkaline region(pH 10∼11.3), the amounts of adsorption of Cu(Ⅱ) on sericin were larger than that of acidic region. It could be said that adsorption sites of Cu(Ⅱ) were side chains of amino acids in the acidic region, while in the alkaline region those of Cu(Ⅱ) were main chains of amino acids. At pH 4.5 the initial adsorption rates of Cu(Ⅱ) on sericin increased according to the increase of treatment temperature, at that time, the activation energy of initial diffusion was about 9Kcal/M. By adsorbing Cu(Ⅱ) ion, the thermal degradation of sericin was accelerated and the morphology of that changed into compact form.

Silk Sericin에 Cu(Ⅱ)이온의 흡착과 흡착된 sericin의 물성을 검토하였다. 산성영역인 pH 5부근까지에서는 pH가 증가함에 따라서 Cu(Ⅱ)이온의 흡착량은 증가하였고 이때 흡착 site는 아미노산의 말단기로 생각되며, 알칼리영역인 pH 10∼11.3 부근에서는 산성영역보다 흡착량이 많은데 이것은 이때 흡착 site인 아미노산의 main-chain의 NH에 흡착되기 때문이라고 생각된다. pH4.5에서 초기흡착속도는 처리온도가 높을수록 증가하였고 이때의 활성화에너지는 약 9 Kcal/M이었다. Cu(Ⅱ)이온을 흡착함으로 인하여 sericin의 열분해는 촉진되었고 그때의 sericin의 morphology는 compact한 형태로 변함을 알 수 있었다.