Synopsis
Glutaraldehyde reacts readily with various proteins in solution. With high concentrations of both, the solutions become yellow and many proteins form a gel. At low concentrations the reactions may be followed by the changes in the u.v. spectrum between 250 and 300 nm. The reverse reaction does not proceed to any detectable extent. The kinetics are pseudo-first-order. The activation energies for the reactions between proteins and glutaraldehyde were found to be about II kcal/mole. This suggests that the proteins have not been denatured to any marked extent by the glutaraldehyde fixation. The rates of reactions increase with pH. The rate of formation of glutaraldehyde-protein links per protein molecule glutarated is approximately I sec−1 mol−1 1.
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Hopwood, D., Allen, C.R. & McCabe, M. The reactions between glutaraldehyde and various proteins. An investigation of their kinetics. Histochem J 2, 137–150 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01003541
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01003541