Influence of a transient spark plasma discharge on producing high molecular masses of chemical products from l-cysteine

Abstract

Abstract Cold atmospheric pressure plasmas are considered a forthcoming method in many research areas. Plasma modification of biomolecules has received much attention in addition to plasma-treated biomaterials. Hence, in this work, we operated a transient spark plasma (TSP) discharge to study its effect on the l-cysteine chemical structure. the TSP was configured in a pin-to-ring electrode arrangement and flowed by Ar gas. We also investigated the effect of two chemicals; dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by the bubbling method to show how they can change the creation of new chemical bioproducts. Ultraviolet–Visible absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Liquid chromatography–mass spectroscopy were used to investigate any changes in chemical bonds of cysteine structure and to depict the generation of new biomolecules. Based on the displayed results plasma-generated reactive species had a great role in the chemical structure of the cysteine. Entering DMSO and H2O2 into the plasma caused the creation of new products and the heaviest biomolecule was produced by the simultaneous addition of DMSO and H2O2. The results also predicted that some chemical products and amino acids with a higher value molecular masse produced from the polymerization process of cysteine solution. The strong oxidation process is responsible for the heavy chemical compounds.