Re: glutaraldehyde

T. E. Andersen wrote:
>
> Judy Seigel wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > Thank you for the very interesting brief on gultaraldehyde... Now
> > I'm wondering if you can answer the following -- do you know any
> > reason why the glutaraldehyde would be better for the purpose than
> > formaldehyde?
>
> No, I see no reason for the glutaraldehyde to be better. It causes a
> much higher degree of crosslinking of the proteins in the gelatin. This
> is often of value in microscopy, but I don't see how this could be
> beneficial for hardening alt-photo paper. On the other hand, it may well
> prove to reduce the archival properties of the coating. I do not know
> this to be the case, but I would not be surpriced if it did. After all,
> the more cross-linked the proteins are, the more brittle the gelatin
> will be, and the less of the protein molecules will be free to adhere to
> the paper and image layers. Again, I do not know this to be a problem,
> but it's fair assumption.
>

This makes a great deal of sense. Thanks,
kt
Received on Wed Mar 17 11:49:43 2004