Abstract
B.A. Fleece wool fibers were chemically modified in order to study the influence of sulfhydryl and disulfide groups on supercontraction in 9 M LiCl at 94° C. The disulfide bonds were reduced with sodium thioglycolate solutions to form free sulfhydryl groups, and the free SH groups were blocked with N-ethylmaleimide. This had a significant effect on the rate of supercontraction, which was followed by a microscopic technique. A spontaneous re-elongation of the fibers was observed in the case of highly reduced fibers. The existence of linkages, other than disulfide bonds, that might tend to limit supercontraction was investigated by the addition of 0.1 N HCl to the supercontracting medium. The experimental results were interpreted in terms of a sulfhydryl-disulfide interchange mechanism.
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