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Re: WSN: salting out, deionized H2O,.. (fwd)
Sender: David Walker <cnstnce@cats.ucsc.edu>
Subject: Re: WSN: salting out, deionized H2O,..
Please excuse me if my query is inappropriate - but museum conservation science
is a relatively new field and relevant information sources are scarce. In
the treatment of objects in our care, we are not always certain whether we
are arresting degradation or sometimes promoting it.
The question of salting out refers to proteins that are in solution. My
question concerns the forces that would solubilize amino acids and peptides
out of native proteins. If I immerse keratin fibers in water of low ionic
strength, I do not want components of the fiber to go into solution. Is
this a possibility which increases as water becomes increasingly pure?
My supplier says that a copper penny will dissolve in ultra pure water. In
industrial wet treatments of fibers, protective colloids are utilized to
counteract certain reactions in aqueous media. Is there, then, a
characteristic of deionized water that could solubilize ionizable
components of a protein fiber?
Your help is greatly appreciated. I hope I am not being too intrusive.
David Walker
Talisman Textile Conservation
cnstnce@cats.ucsc.edu