Impact of non-rubber components on the branching structure and the accelerated storage hardening in Hevea rubber

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ORIGINAL PAPER

Impact of non‑rubber components on the branching structure and the accelerated storage hardening in Hevea rubber Porntip Rojruthai1   · Thawiwan Kantaram2 · Jitladda Sakdapipanich2  Received: 2 June 2020 / Accepted: 28 September 2020 © The Malaysian Rubber Board 2020

Abstract Natural rubber (NR) contains cis-1,4-polyisoprene as well as a small quantity of non-rubber components, affecting the physical properties of NR, especially the storage hardening via gel formation. The free and/or linked non-rubber components were removed from NR by various treatments. The origin of gel formation in NR mainly resulted from proteins, which could be removed by enzymatic deproteinisation, surfactant washing or saponification treatment, and partly from phospholipids linked to NR molecule via H-bonding, which were decomposed by saponification or polar solvent treatment. The effect of the nonrubber components in NR on storage hardening was investigated by an accelerated storage hardening test (ASHT). The crude NR (CNR) containing proteins and lipids clearly showed the increase of gel content, suggesting the formation of crosslink structure during storage, resulting in the high plasticity number and Mooney viscosity after the ASHT. The gel content in protein-free NR did not change significantly only in washed NR (WSNR), but increased in the enzymatic deproteinised NR (DPNR). This resulted from the presence of residual proteins, such as oligopeptides. Interestingly, the gel content also reduced in the acetone extracted CNR (AE-CNR) and there was no significant effect on the storage hardening after ASHT, like WSNR. These were supposed to be due to the interaction or the participation of proteins and free fatty acids in the branching formation. Although the saponification could be decomposed branching at both terminal ends of the NR molecule, the protein and lipid residues occluded in the saponified NR (SPNR) affected the storage hardening. However, the flocculant remaining in the SPNR coagulated with acid and flocculant (AF-SPNR) would obstruct both gel formation and storage hardening. Keywords  Natural rubber · Non-rubber · Storage hardening · Branching structure

Introduction Hevea brasiliensis trees are normally exploited for commercial natural rubber (NR) latex, which contains about 30–40% of rubber colloidal particles dispersed in its serum phase. After the coagulation of latex, solid NR consists of about 94% rubber hydrocarbons and about 6% non-rubber constituents such as proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and sugars,

* Jitladda Sakdapipanich [email protected] 1



Division of Chemical Industrial Process and Environment, Faculty of Science, Energy and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Rayong 21120, Thailand



Department of Chemistry and Center of Excellence for Innovation in Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Salaya Campus, Phutthamonthon, Nakhon Pathom 73170, Thailand

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