Re: Gum Preservatives

[Katharine Thayer <kthayer@pacifier.com>]

You could, but I wouldn't. What you need is a biocide, while glyoxal  
functions as a crosslinking agent.  If you used enough glyoxal to  
crosslink the gum enough to discourage mold growth, I suspect it  
would also render the gum insoluble (thus unusable).   In my  
experiments hardening gum for painting, I found that a drop of  
glyoxal hardened 5 ml of gum to a crystalline state. In general, I'd  
say you want the crosslinking of gum to occur in the exposure phase,  
not before.
Katharine


On Dec 5, 2006, at 6:31 PM, Michael Koch-Schulte wrote:

> Can I use a few drops of Glyoxal in gum arabic as a preservative?  
> I'm mixing
> the gum from powder.
> ~m