Name:L-Cysteine
CAS Number: 52-90-4
Product Characteristics
Colorless crystal
Mainly used in medicine, cosmetics, biochemical research, and other fields.
Used in bread dough to promote gluten formation, improve fermentation, aid in demolding, and prevent aging.
Used in natural fruit juices to prevent the oxidation of vitamin C and browning of the juice.
This compound has detoxifying effects and can be used for acrylonitrile poisoning and aromatic acid poisoning.
It also helps prevent radiation damage to the body and is used as a treatment for bronchitis, especially as an expectorant (mostly in the form of acetyl-L-cysteine methyl ester).
In cosmetics, it is mainly used in beauty toners, perm solutions, sunscreens, and skincare creams.
L-Cysteine (CAS 52-90-4) is an important sulfur-containing amino acid that plays a fundamental role in living organisms and is therefore widely used in medicine, food, cosmetics, and biochemical research.
Its main uses and functions can be summarized as follows:
1. Medical field: Used as a detoxifying agent (for heavy metal or drug poisoning), an expectorant (mostly in derivative forms), as a liver function support drug, and to prevent radiation damage.
2. Food industry: As a dough improver (promoting gluten formation), antioxidant (preventing juice browning and vitamin C oxidation), and a precursor for food flavor compounds.
3. Cosmetics: Used in perm solutions (to break disulfide bonds in hair to change hairstyle), beauty toners, and skincare creams to maintain skin elasticity and texture.
4. Biochemical research: Used as a component of tissue culture media, as a model compound for studying protein structure and function, and as a raw material for synthesizing other biochemical reagents (such as glutathione).
Core Function Analysis:
The wide range of uses of L-Cysteine mainly comes from the thiol (-SH) group in its molecular structure. This highly reactive group gives it several key abilities:
Antioxidant effect: It is a component of glutathione, an important antioxidant in the human body, helping to remove free radicals and protect cells from oxidative damage.
Detoxification function: The thiol group can bind with certain toxic substances (such as heavy metal ions or some drugs) to form non-toxic or low-toxicity complexes and help eliminate them from the body.
Structural regulation: It can stabilize protein structures (such as keratin) by forming disulfide bonds or act as a reducing agent to break disulfide bonds. This property is crucial in applications such as perming and dough improvement.
Metabolism and synthesis: As an amino acid, it directly participates in protein synthesis and is also an important raw material for synthesizing various bioactive substances such as taurine and coenzyme A.