Abstract
REACTION of wool keratin with solutions of alkalis or potassium cyanide leads to the elimination of one of the sulphur atoms of the dithio bond of the cystine residues with the formation of a thioether (lanthionine) linkage : 
It is considered that the reaction with cyanide ions, which overall may be represented by equation (2), can follow two possible courses: 
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References
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EARLAND, C., RAVEN, D. Lanthionine Formation in Keratin. Nature 191, 384 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/191384a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/191384a0
