The reactions of inter- and intra-chain disulphide bonds in proteins with sulphite

Abstract

The reaction of the disulphide bonds in a number of proteins with sulphite has been studied under various conditions. It has been shown that, while the inter-chain disulphide bonds react with sulphite alone, the majority of intra-chain disulphide bonds do not. All the disulphide bonds react with sulphite in the presence of guanidine and mercuric chloride and this reaction was used for the estimation of the total disulphide content of the proteins. These findings have been interpreted in terms of the structure of the proteins concerned.