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Tutorial Review
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2007, 36, 1282 - 1291, DOI: 10.1039/b604537p
Hair—the most sophisticated biological composite material
Crisan Popescu and Hartwig Höcker
Hair is a proteinaceous fibre with a strongly hierarchical organization of subunits, from the
-keratin chains, via intermediate filaments, to the fibre. The chemistry of the different morphological compartments results in exciting physical properties, including the hydrophilic/hydrophobic paradox. The present tutorial review will be of interest for protein- as well as polymer chemists, who want to learn from nature, and also for biochemists interested in the cytoskeleton and particularly in intermediate filaments; it also presents a scientific basis for hair cosmetics.
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