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The relation between the number of lanthionine crosslinks and the urea‐bisulfite solubility of alkali‐treated wool
Author(s) -
Jones B. W.,
Speakman P. T.
Publication year - 1960
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1960.070030705
Subject(s) - lanthionine , solubility , bisulfite , alkali metal , chemistry , urea , cystine , cross link , wool , organic chemistry , polymer chemistry , polymer , materials science , amino acid , cysteine , biochemistry , gene expression , dna methylation , composite material , gene , enzyme
Abstract Charlesby's equation connecting degree of crosslinking with polymer solubility will adequately explain the decreasing solubility of the urea‐bisulfite‐soluble protein fraction of wool after the wool has been pre‐treated in alkaline solutions. It has been shown that lanthionine thio‐ether linkages are probably sufficiently stable crosslinks in the ureabisulfite solutions to account for the lower solubility of alkali‐treated wool. They are formed from cystine residues during the alkali treatment. The activation energy of the reaction of cystine residues with hydroxyl ions is 24.4 kcal./mole.