Introduction An attempt by Fischer and Gerngross3 to prepare monoglycyl-and monoleucyl- L-cystine through aminolysis of their respective monohaloacyl-L-cystine precursors resulted in the formation, in each instance, of a dipeptide which was not pure and appreciable amounts of cystine. This unusual aminolysis of an a-haloacylamino acid can be easily explained4 by the well-known fact that un-symmetrical open chain derivatives of cystine ( ...