Synopsis
MOLECULAR WEIGHT has been thought to be an important feature of COSMETIC GRADE PROTEINS
and to be a critical factor affecting PROTEIN SUBSTANTIVITY to HAIR. The study reported in this
paper was undertaken to show the relationship of molecular weight to protein substantivity. Using gel filtra-
tion and ultracentrifugation data were obtained that indicate peptides in the range of molecular weight 1000
are more substantive than the very high molecular weight molecules.
Cosmetic grade protein hydrolysates are complex mixtures of various molecular weight
polypeptides. Only approximate number average molecular weights have been pre-
viously reported. This study was undertaken to provide additional information about
the distribution of molecular weights of collagen hydrolyzed by several methods, and
to show if there is a relationship between molecular size and hair substantivity.
Two techniques were used for investigating the molecular weight distribution of cos-
metic grade protein hydrolysates, gel filtration and ultracentrifugation.
Gel filtration is an established chromatographic method for the separation of molecules
according'to their size. The use of Sephadex •, a bead-formed dextran gel, for gel
filtration was introduced in 1959, and since has become a well-established method for
fractionation and separation of molecules according to their size