Studies on Reduced Wool I. The Extent of Reduotion of Wool with Inoreasing Conoentrations of Thiol, and the Extraotion of Proteins from Reduoed and Alkylated Wool

Abstract

The reduction of wool with mercaptoethanol and thioglycollate at pH 5 has been compared by measuring the disulphide contents of the reduced wool after alkylation of the thiol groups with iodoacetate at pH 8·5--9. Mercaptoethanol and thioglycollate are very similar in their extent of reduction of wool at low concentrations of thiol but the neutral thiol is more effective as a reducing agent at high concentrations. In contrast with the earlier findings of Patterson et al.