Of cystine

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. 

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). 

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,... 

Describe the stereochemical aspects of the structure of cystine, the structure that is a disulfide-linked pair of cysteines. 

U. T. Ruf gg u. J. Rudinger, Reductive Cleavage of cystine disulfides with tributylphosphins, Methods Enzymol. 47, 111 (1977). 

Dialkyl esters of cystine (39) and lanthionine (40) undergo a surprising thermolysis reaction at between 25 C and 80 °C to afford cis and trans methyl 2-methylthiazolidine-2,4-dicarboxylates (43) in protic solvents. A two stage process is proposed for this transformation. An initial i-elimination reaction gives the thiol (41) and the enamine (42). Thiol addition to the imine tautomer of (42) is then followed by loss of ammonia and an intramolecular cyclisation to give (43) <96CC843>. 

There are numerous abnormalities of cysteine metabolism. Cystine, lysine, arginine, and ornithine are excreted in cystine-lysinuria (cystinuria), a defect in renal reabsorption. Apart from cystine calculi, cystinuria is benign. The mixed disulfide of L-cysteine and L-homocysteine (Figure 30-9) excreted by cystinuric patients is more soluble than cystine and reduces formation of cystine calculi. Several metabolic defects result in vitamin Bg-responsive or -unresponsive ho-mocystinurias. Defective carrier-mediated transport of cystine results in cystinosis (cystine storage disease) with deposition of cystine crystals in tissues and early mortality from acute renal failure. Despite... 

With the exception of cystine, a, a -diamino acids represent a class of compounds not found naturally in biological samples. However, it should be noted that such compounds have been isolated previously from certain... 

Murphy, T.H., Miyamoto, M., Sastre, A., Schnaar, R.L. and Coyle, J.T. (1989). Glutamate toxicity in a neuronal cell line involves inhibition of cystine transport leading to oxidative stress. Neuron 2, 1547-1558. 

The first step in this reaction is connected with breaking of the O—O bond, with a markedly unsymmetrical energy profile (a 0.2). Other reactions connected with a similar bond breakage have an analogous course, e.g. the reduction of cystine at a mercury electrode. 

Oxidative bleaching of wool is invariably carried out with hydrogen peroxide. The active species involved is likely to be the same as on cellulosic substrates but specific reactions with wool amino acid residues must be considered. The primary reaction is oxidation of cystine disulphide bonds leading to the formation of cysteic acid residues (Scheme 10.41). The rupture of disulphide crosslinks, with attendant increase in urea-bisulphite and alkali solubility values, adversely affects fibre properties. As the severity of bleaching conditions increases, the urea-bisulphite solubility remains little changed but the relationships between alkali solubility and cysteic acid (Figure 10.36) and between cystine and cysteic acid (Figure... 

As mentioned previously, additive treatments involve the application of a polymer to the fibre. This is usually prepared before application and contains reactive groups. However, it is also possible to form the polymer in situ within the fibres. The traditional approach is to apply the polymer after a subtractive oxidation treatment but environmental concern over A OX problems is increasing demand for additive treatments that can stand alone. There is no denying that the oxidative step can facilitate subsequent treatment with a polymer, since the scission of cystine disulphide bonds to yield cysteic acid residues provides useful reactive sites for crosslinking or anchoring the polymer. 

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. 

The product cystine is presumably formed in the recombination of two thiyl radicals. This free-radical model is suitable for formal treatment of the kinetic data however, it does not account for all possible reactions of the RS radical (68). The rate constants for the reactions of this species with RS-, 02 and Cu L, (n = 2, 3) are comparable, and on the order of 109-10loM-1s-1 (70-72). Because all of these reaction partners are present in relatively high and competitive concentrations, the recombination of the thiyl radical must be a relatively minor reaction compared to the other reaction paths even though it has a diffusion controlled rate constant. It follows that the RS radical is most likely involved in a series of side reactions producing various intermediates. In order to comply with the noted chemoselectivity, at some point these transient species should produce a common intermediate leading to the formation of cystine. 

Hitchman ML, Millington JP, Ralph TR, Walsh FC (1989) The electrochemical reduction of cystine to L-cysteine, I Chem E Symp Ser 112 222... 

The absorbed chromium (VI) is gradually reduced to chromium (III) as a result of participation in the oxidative decomposition of cystine crosslinks as represented by Scheme 5.18. 

The hydrolytic breakdown of the disulphide bonds of cystine liberates some hydrogen sulphide and this can gradually deactivate a vinylsulphone dye by formation of the... 

FIGURE 6.20 Synthesis of cystine-containing peptides from cysteine-containing peptides by removal of other protectors followed by (A) deprotection of the sulfhydryls and their oxidation to the disulfide, and (B) formation of the disulfide bond by reaction of a liberated sulfhydryl with a sulfhydryl that is protected and activated by 3-nitro-2-pyridylsulfanyl (Npys).89... 

N Fujii, A Otaka, S Funakoshi, K Bessho, T Watanabe, K Akaji, H Yajima. Studies on peptides. CL1. Syntheses of cystine-peptides by oxidation of S-protected cysteine peptides with thalliumin trifhioroacetate. Chem Pharm Bull (Jpn) 35, 2339, 1987. 

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