Abstract
Danger to rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis) from South American leaf blight fungus imperils the world’s source of natural latex for essential rubber products. Avoiding latex allergies also requires a non-Hevea latex source. The present methods for removing latex entrapped in the individual cells of guayule plants require environmentally hazardous chemicals. This study proposes a new method for latex extraction from guayule using various ionic liquids (ILs) to dissolve cell walls and release latex, as substantiated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) data.
Highlights
The top layer would be expected to be rubber latex, since its density was measured as 0.95 g/cm3, while the density of water was 1.0 g/cm3 and the density of ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (Emim Ac) was measured at 1.1 g/cm3 [14]
Analyses of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra from ionic liquids (ILs) pretreatment of guayule suggest that cell walls are broken, allowing the rubber latex inside to escape
The addition of water leads to the formation of layers, with the lowest density top layer showing characteristic rubber latex vibrations in the FTIR spectra
Summary
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