Keratin Derivatives Extracted From Wool with Alkaline Thioglycollate Solutions

Abstract

In extension of previous work (Gillespie and Lennox 1953), the conditions under which proteins may be extracted from washed Merino wool have been further examined. Approximately 65 per cent. of the wool can be dissolved by a 40-min extraction at 50�C with O�1M thioglycollate at an initial pH of 12� 6. Electrophoresis at pH 11 in thioglycoIlate-glycine buffer indicated the presence of seven minor and one major component, the latter amounting to 41 per cent. of the wool. The minor components can be completely removed from the wool by five 2,O-min extractions with O�1M thioglycollate at an initial pH of 10�5. Extraction of the residue at pH 12�3 yields the major component. This moves as a single peak on electrophoresis between pH 8�0 and 12�0 in the presence of various buffers. It has a mobility of -7�2 X 10-5 cm2 V-I sec- I at a protein concentration of 0�5 per cent. in thioglycollate-glycine buffer of ionic strength O� 22 at pH 11� O. At higher protein concentrations there is anomalous behaviour on the descending boundary and tills can be prevented by increasing the ionic strength or replacing thioglycollic acid with mercapto-ethanol. The ascending pattern is unaltered by these changes or by increased protein concentration.

Study on the structure and properties of wool keratin regenerated from formic acid

“…Although the low yield of the extraction method used [3,18,19], no noticeable differences were found in the amino acid composition of the samples, despite the different rearrangement of the protein chains ( Table 1).…”

Study on the shear viscosity behavior of keratin/PEO blends for nanofibre electrospinning

“…Keratin can be extracted from wool by cleavage of the disulfide bonds and hydrogen interchain bonds. Several extraction methods have been reported in literature and most of them involve oxidants or reducing agents, namely peroxides or thiols 1–3. However, these solvent systems are harmful, difficult to handle and environmentally dangerous.…”

The Elastic Properties of Chemically Modified Wools and Their Implications for Theories of Wool Structure

“…Since in the case of the oxidation procedures the fraction obtained amounts to 90% of the weight of the wool [2), and 70% in the case of reductive procedures ( 12), it would seem that a re-assessment of theories of wool structure is required. From work on the relation of fiber strength to the molecular weight of the fundamental unit [23], it has been suggested that a minimum molecular weight of 10,000 is required to account for the strength of the wool fiber [22J.…”