HOW TO ORIENT COLLAGEN AND GELATIN

The arrangement of triple helical domains of gelatin molecules may hav e important physical consequences in photographic gelatins. We review work which indicates that lyotropic liquid crystallization is importan t in defining molecular orientation and packing in collagens and sugge st that it would be worth looking for similar effects in gelatins unde r certain conditions. We present a preliminary observation which sugge sts that gelatin can actually behave as a liquid crystal. The possible role of lyotropic liquid crystallization in photographic manufacturin g and the interaction of gelatin with other photographic components, s uch as silver halide, needs further investigation.