61—the Composition of Suint

Qualitative analysis, mainly by chromatographic methods, of suint extracts from raw wool has shown the presence of volatile acids, higher fatty acids, dicarboxylic acids, hydroxy- and keto-acids, aldehydes, sugar acids, phosphorylated sugars, polypeptide material, and urea. The substances identified include not only those the presence of which in suint has been previously established, but also new compounds such as the keto-acids. The origin of suint constituents is discussed and the view is advanced that most of them are not true catabolites of the sheep, but are the products of microfloral metabolism in the fleece.