Abstract
Many fibrous biological structures show a supramolecular organization geometrically comparable to a “twisted plywood” 1. This arrangement is similar to that of molecules in cholesteric* liquid crystals, but the liquid character is often abolished by the presence of molecular crosslinks. Liquid crystals were first described in cholesterol esters, and this explains the term cholesteric given to this particular state of matter.
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© 1986 Plenum Press, New York
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Giraud-Guille, M.M., Bouligand, Y. (1986). Chitin-Protein Molecular Organization in Arthropod. In: Muzzarelli, R., Jeuniaux, C., Gooday, G.W. (eds) Chitin in Nature and Technology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2167-5_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2167-5_5
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