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Swelling of Fibrous Proteins

Nature volume 179, pages 528–529 (1957)Cite this article

Abstract

MEASUREMENTS of the energies and amounts of sorption of water vapour by wool keratin, when compared with those on silk fibroin1, have led us to generalizations concerning the nature of swelling of protein fibres. The heats of wetting of keratin containing adsorbed and desorbed water (no hysteresis was observed) were combined with the water vapour adsorption isotherm to calculate the thermodynamic properties2. The differential properties are given in Fig. 1. Also, the analogous properties of the silk fibroin–water vapour system are included (inset A) because their full significance was not appreciated until now.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta

    JOHN L. MORRISON & JAMES F. HANLAN

Authors
  1. JOHN L. MORRISON
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  2. JAMES F. HANLAN
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MORRISON, J., HANLAN, J. Swelling of Fibrous Proteins. Nature 179, 528–529 (1957). https://doi.org/10.1038/179528a0

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