Structure and Synchronized Stretch-rotation of Hairkeratin Fibres

NoT MANY albuminous bodies have been as successfully examined for their microand macro-structure as hair and wool keratin. Chemical, optical and mechanical methods of measurement were used in this task. The latter, especially, figured in many publications of the last 30 years, so that the special term "Mechanochemistry" was coined for the mechanical methods of measurement, and it is surprising that Mechanochemistry could have been so successfully used without anyone being completely clear as to its mechanism to this very day. It therefore seems desirable to find a method which would sufficiently clarify the nature of the stretching process to allow the elimination of the most improbable theories hitherto adhered to. Knowledge of the real causes of stretching would lead to a truer picture of the structure of keratin, which in its turn could serve as a pattern for other proteins. All physicochemical experiments, especially Speakman'sL have shown that the characteristic physical behaviour of keratinous bodies, such as their great elasticity, was dependent on their chemical structure. Three theories have to be examined, experimentally if possible.