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A Novel Cellulose-Preparation Method

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2018

Richard Gillespie
Richard Gillespie*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Natural History, School of Culture, History and Language, Australian National University, Acton ACT 2601, Australia; and Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: dizheights@gmail.com.
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Abstract

The radiocarbon (14C) dating of contaminated old wood has been seen as a challenge requiring many lengthy procedures, often using strong alkali extractions and carbon-containing solvents. Introduced here is a novel protocol called 2chlorOx, a twice-repeated sequence of alkaline hypochlorite and acidic chlorite oxidations, which is shown to work well for 14C and 13C measurements on both <5000 BP and >50,000 BP wood samples, producing results superior to those from conventional acidic chlorite or acidic dichromate oxidations. The 2chlorOx method employs only inorganic reagents, many samples can be completed in less than one day under normal laboratory conditions, and cellulose prepared in this way is usually paper-white in color.

Keywords

bleachingcellulosechloritehypochlorite
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 61 , Issue 1 , February 2019 , pp. 131 - 139
Copyright
© 2018 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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