Action of Cyanamide on Wool

Abstract

WHEN wool fibres are exposed to the action of light and air, the cystine linkages undergo decomposition with loss of sulphur and development of sulphydryl and aldehyde groups. In consequence, the increased alkali-combining power of the exposed tips, as compared with the unexposed roots of wool staples above pH 8, has been referred to the presence of excess sulphydryl groups in exposed wool¹. On treatment with cyanamide, however, sulphydryl compounds are converted into derivatives of isothiourea², and the pH-stability region of exposed wool, which normally ranges from pH 5 to 7 in buffer solutions, should be capable of extension to pH 10 by treating the wool with cyanamide, especially as the amino groups of lysine side-chains are simultaneously converted into more strongly basic guanido groups³.