SummaryWool has been reduced by tributylphosphine or by toluene-w-thiol under conditions such that the fibres remained intact. Further, this reduced wool was S -alkylated with retention of fibrous properties. The reduced fibres and reduced and alkylated fibres have been studied to determine the contribution of the disulphide groups to the physical properties of wool fibres, and in other structural studies. Protein can be extracted from the reduced and subsequently S-carboxymethylated fibres, and the extent of extraction is markedly dependent on the conditions used in the preceding alkylation step.

It has been shown earlier that the disulphide bonds in wool fibres are reduced specifically and almost quantitatively in aqueous solution using toluene-w-thiol (Maclaren 1962) or tributyl phosphine (Sweetman and Maclaren 1966; Maclaren, Kilpatrick, and Kirkpatrick 1968). The next step was to find a suitable solvent system to extract the proteins from the reduced fibre.

Treatment of wool fabric for short periods at 3° and 21° with concentrated sulfuric acid confers on the fabric a marked resist to some acid dyes. By controlling the sulfation conditions, the accompanying loss in strength is minimized. This resist is stable to prolonged boiling in the dyebath and to acid and alkali.

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Cut segments of wool, as well as whole fibres, have been immersed, under standard conditions, in concentrated aqueous urea. The diameter of each fibre or segment was then determined and compared with that of a control. No swelling occurred with whole fibres, but swelling was observed with the segments, the extent of swelling, in a given time, being inversely proportional to the length of the cut segment. The swelling of cut fibres increased with the time of immersion in concentrated aqueous urea. It is concluded that urea diffused into the cut ends of wool fibres, but that the epicuticle, if intact, is impervious to urea.