State of the Sulfur in Oxidized Wool

During treatment with oxidizing agents, the disulfide sulfur in wool appears to be changed to higher states of oxidation. The exist ence of oxidation derivatives of the disulfide compounds is indicated by the alkali-solubility determination, the lead acetate test, b y reduction with hydrochloric acid-potassium iodide solutions, and by cystine analyses. The intermediate oxidation derivatives of cystine are unstable under the conditions necessary for protein hydrolysis, a nd at least one of them, cystine disulfoxide, is partia lly converted to cystine. The results indicate that the values obtained for the cystine content of oxidized wool may be expected to be higher than the actual cystine content since they represent the amount of cystine formed from the partially oxidized cystine compounds a s well as from unoxidized cystine groups. CONTENTS Page I . Introduction ___ ______ _________ __ _____ ___ ____ _________ ____ ___ ____ 623 II. St ate of the sulfur in oxidized wooL _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 624 III. D etermination of cystine in oxidized wooL _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 625 IV. References _____ __ _______ ___ ____ ________ _____ ____________________ 628