Cystine solutions

Products Obtained by Irradiating Cystine Solutions with Sunlight or a Sun lamp"... 

When cystine is irradiated at pH values below 5 in the presence of air and water, S—S fission predominates. Oxides such as CyS02SCy may be formed as intermediates, but the products isolated are mainly compounds such as cysteic acid, CySOsH. Alanine, serine, and glycine, produced in quantity in the absence of air, were formed only in minute amounts in its presence. Under all conditions of irradiation CyS02SH and CySSSCy were formed. When cystine was irradiated in the dry state cysteine, alanine, and lanthionine were formed. The results of irradiation experiments on cystine solutions are summarized in Table XXV. Savige (private communication, 1964) considers that products obtained by irradiation of cystine may arise by the following mechanisms ... 

Calibrate using cystine solutions prepared by dissolving it in IN NH solution in concentrations of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 mg/100 ml, polarographing them in the same volumes as urine or serum appropriately diluted. Such a calibration, however, is not sufiicient for the determination of cystine in hydrolysates in which the presence of some other amino acids (e.g.,... 

HSCH -CHNHj-COjH. Cysteine is a reduction product of cystine. It is the first step in the breakdown of cystine in the body, one molecule of cystine splitting to give two molecules of cysteine. Cysteine is soluble in water but the solution is unstable, and is reoxidized to cystine. 

Tyrosine and cystine are colourless solids almost insoluble in water gfid in ethanol (tyrosine dissolves in hot water). They are readily soluble in dilute caustic alkali solution, in ammonia and mineral acids, but not in acetic acid. They are also classed as neutral ampholytes. ... 

Action of nitrous acid. To a few ml. of 20% NaNO, solution add a few drops of cold dil. acetic acid. Pour the mixture into a cold aqueous solution of glycine, and note the brisk evolution of nitrogen. NH CH COOH -h HNO2 = HO CH2COOH + N + H O. Owing to the insolubility of cystine in acetic acid use a suspension in dU. acetic acid for this test. In each case care must be taken not to confuse the evolution of nitrogen with any possible thermal decomposition of the nitrous acid cf. footnote, p, 360). 

Tyrosine and cystine are insoluble in water therefore place about 0 2 g. in the test-tube A, dissolve in the dil. NaOH solution, add phenolphthalein as before and then add dil. HCl until pink colour is iust not discharged then proceed as above. 

Niiroprusside test. Dissolve about o-i g. of cystine in a few ml. of dilute ammonia and then add a few drops of potassium cyanide solution. This reduces cystine to cysteine,... 

Permanent coloration can also be achieved by exposing hair to certain metals copper, silver, and especially lead salts. Preparations containing aqueous solutions of lead acetate may include a source of sulfur, usually thiosulfate, which may react with cystine in the hair to produce some cysteine or may react directiy with the metal ion to form dark metallic sulfides. Preparations of this type, which darken hair gradually, are not universally considered safe. 

Nishimura and coworkers57-59 studied the y-radiolysis of aqueous solutions of sulfoxide amino acids. Sulfoxide amino acids are the precursors of the flavors of onions (S-propyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide, S-methyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide and S-(l-propenyl)-L-cysteine sulfoxide) and garlic (S-allyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide). In studies on sprout inhibition of onion by /-irradiation it was found that the characteristic flavor of onions became milder. In the y-radiolysis of an aqueous solution of S-propyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide (PCSO)57,58 they identified as the main products alanine, cysteic acid, dipropyl disulfide and dipropyl sulfide. In the radiolysis of S-allyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide (ACSO) they found that the main products are S-allyl-L-cysteine, cysteic acid, cystine, allyl alcohol, propyl allyl sulfide and diallyl sulfide. The mechanisms of formation of the products were partly elucidated by the study of the radiolysis in the presence of N20 and Br- as eaq - and OH radicals scavengers, respectively. 

On several occasions the product isolated by the submitters was contaminated with L-cystine dihydrochloride, which was not easily removed by recrystallization. In this event the product was converted to the zwitterionic form and recrystallized in the following manner. The pH of a solution of the product in water was adjusted to 6 with aqueous 2.5N potassium hydroxide. The neutralized solution was evaporated to dryness under reduced pressure at ca. 40°. The residue was dissolved in a minimum amount of hot water, and two volumes of 95% ethanol were added to precipitate S-acetamidomethyl-L-cysteine monohydrate, dec. 187°, [a] 9 — 42.5° (c = 1, water). 

Dithiothreitol (DTT) and dithioerythritol (DTE) are the trans and cis isomers of the compound 2,3-dihydroxy-1,4-dithiolbutane. The reducing potential of these versatile reagents was first described by Cleland in 1964. Due to their low redox potential (—0.33 V) they are able to reduce virtually all accessible biological disulfides and maintain free thiols in solution despite the presence of oxygen. The compounds are fully water-soluble with very little of the offensive odor of the 2-mercaptoethanol they were meant to replace. Since Cleland s original report, literally thousands of references have cited the use of mainly DTT for the reduction of cystine and other forms of disulfides. 

Zwart and co-workers confirmed that the catalytic autoxidation produces cystine (RSSR) with 100% selectivity and the actual stoichiometry can be given by the following equation in alkaline solution ([NaOH] = 0.25 M) (64) ... 

L-Cysteine is a high value a-amino acid used world-wide in a scale of 1200-15001 year-1 as additive in foodstuffs, cosmetics or as intermediate or active agent (as antidote to several snake venoms) in the pharmaceutical industry. Chemical routes generally lack the efficiency of electrochemical techniques, or they produce mixtures of l- and d- forms rather than the L-isomer. The most common electrochemical route is the cathodic reduction of L-Cystine in acid (usually HC1) solution to produce the stable hydrochloride. In Table 10, the charateristic data for a laboratory bench, laboratory pilot and a product pilot reaction using a DEM filter press are compared [13]. A production scale study was carried out in a filterpress reactor divided by a cation exchange membrane with a total area of 10.5 m2. The typical product inventory was 450 kg/24-hour batch time. For more details see Ref. [13]. 

Electrosynthesis Co. Inc. [109,112, 113] has piloted a process that reduces cystine in aqueous ammonia solution, using an ElectroSyn cell. 

The aquated iron(III) ion is an oxidant. Reaction with reducing ligands probably proceeds through complexing. Rapid scan spectrophotometry of the Fe(III)-cysteine system shows a transient blue Fe(lII)-cysteine complex and formation of Fe(II) and cystine. The reduction of Fe(lII) by hydroquinone, in concentrated solution has been probed by stopped-flow linked to x-ray absorption spectrometry. The changing charge on the iron is thereby assessed. In the reaction of Fe(III) with a number of reducing transition metal ions M in acid, the rate law... 

The oxidation of cysteine, as well as other amino acids, was studied by Mudd et a/. Individual amino acids in aqueous solution were exposed to ozone the reported order of susceptibility was cysteine, methionine, tryptophan, tyrosine, histidine, cystine, and phenylalanine. Other amino acids were not affected. This order is similar to that for the relative susceptibility of amino acrids to radiation and to lipid peroxides. Evaluation of the ozonization products revealed that cysteine was converted to cysteic acid, as well as cystine methionine to methionine sulfoxide tryptophan to a variety of pioducrts, including kynurenine and N-formylkynurenine tyrosine also to a variety of products, includiitg dihydroxyphenylalanine histidine to ammonia, proline, and other compounds and cystine in part to cysteic acid. In some cases, the rate and end products depended on the pH of the solution. 

Bretti. C.. Crea. F.. Foti. C.. and Sammartano. S. Solnbility and acivity coefficients of acidic and basic nonelectrolytes in aqueous salt solutions. 1. Solnbility and activity coefficients o-phthalic and L-cystine in NaCl(aq). (CHsl NCUaq). and (C2Hs) NI(aq) at different ionic strengths and at t= 25 °C. Ind. Eng. Chem., 50(5) 1761-1767. 2005. 

Carta, R. and Tola, G. Solubilities of L-cystine, L-tyrosine, L-leucine, and glycine in aqueous solutions at various pHs and NaCl concentrations, J. Chem. Eng. Data, 41(3) 414-417, 1996. 

Three of the amino acids, naniely, tyrosine, cystine and diaminotrioxy-dodecanic acid are characterised by their extremely slight solubility in neutral aqueous solutions. They are therefore easily obtained after hydrolysis by acids by neutralising and concentrating the solution, when they crystallise out. 

The separation of cystine and tyrosine as they are obtained by hydrolysis with hydrochloric acid was described by Morner in I901. The protein—hair, keratin from horn, eggshells, etc.—was boiled with five times its quantity of 13 per cent hydrochloric acid under a reflux condenser on a water bath for six to seven days. The solution was then decolorised with charcoal and evaporated in vacuo, and the residue dissolved in 60 to 70 per cent, alcohol. The two acids then crystallised out on neutralising with soda, and were separated by fractional crystallisation from ammonia if much tyrosine was present it separated out first, but if cystine exceeded tyrosine in quantity this compound crystallised out first the remainder was only separated with difficulty. Embden separated the mixture of the two acids by means of very dilute nitric acid, in which tyrosine is very easily soluble, but cystine with difficulty. Their separation may also be effected by precipitation with mercuric sulphate in 5 per cent, sulphuric acid solution in which the mercury compound of tyrosine is soluble (Hopkins and Cole). 

Neuberg and Popowsky, as also Abderhalden and Kempe, have introduced a few alterations in the procedure, such as evaporation in vacuo, and Levene and Rouiller suggested in 1906 that the tryptophane, on account of its proneness to decompose on evaporation of its solution with consequent loss, be estimated colorimetrically the mercury sulphate precipitate is decomposed, and the solution, freed from hydrogen sulphide, is titrated with bromine water in presence of amyl alcohol. Both cystine and tyrosine react with bromine water the latter can, however, be removed, but for the former a correction has to be made. Up to the present no values concerning the amount of tryptophane in various proteins have appeared, and it will be of interest to see if the values so obtained are very much higher than those obtained by crystallisation of the tryptophane. 

The separation and estimation of the two main groups of amino acids can be carried out in one experiment, instead of separately as described. The protein is hydrolysed by sulphuric acid, the tyrosine, cystine and diaminotrioxydodecanic acid are removed by crystallisation, and the diamino acids are precipitated by phosphotungstic acid. From this precipitate they are obtained by decomposition with baryta, and they are then separated by means of their silver compounds by Kossel, Kustcher and Patten s method. The filtrate from the phosphotungstic acid precipitate is freed from the excess of phosphotungstic acid by means of baryta, and the solution is treated by Fischer s ester method for the monoamino acids. 

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