>2. Isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) - C3H8O, usually used as rubbing alcohol.

Actually that would be C3H7OH (the formula for any alcohol is Cn/H2n+1/OH)

>3. Ethyl alcohol (ethanol) (alcohol) - C2H6O.

C2H5OH

>7. Methanol - CH3OH

CH3OH

For dessication of micros I have been successfully soaking entire
samples in 4% formalin solution (commercial 40% formaldehyde diluted
down further) overnight or a bit longer. This isn't long enough to
damage the shells. I then flush with fresh water and lay out to dry.
The proteins will NOT rot (supposedly) after formalin-fixing; tissues
fixed with alcohols will rot if allowed to become damp. DO NOT STORE
SHELLS IN FORMALDEHYDE, as long-term they will become corroded or, if
small, completely dissolved. Ask my old Lamellaria stearnsi...

>D. Preservation for DNA Study

Ethanol is what the professionals use. Formalin can also be used, but
is not as good for this purpose.

>E. Some Comments On Use of Hydrogen Peroxide
>Since it can also dissolve some of the soft tissues of mollusks, it
>may make it
>easier to flush out microshells. Hydrogen peroxide is a bleaching agent, and
>like bleach it can harm the pigments in shells. If it is used, soaking
>should be restricted to no more than a few hours and the shell should be
>thoroughly rinsed afterwards.

H202 will dissolve any soft tissues. It will also destroy radulae and
opercula, so those serious about collecting micros won't use it. I
have used it on larger shells - once - to clean encrustations. It did
this very well, but the gray Astraea heliotropium turned pale
pinkish; Calliostoma pellucidum went from chestnut-brown to pinkish
also... so this stuff will ruin a colored shell overnight, and
because it's damaging the pigment, the implication is that (unlike
sodium hypochlorite laundry bleach) it is actually dissolving out the
organic matrix of the shell... otherwise it wouldn't be altering the
pigments. A shell so affected will become structurally weaker and may
eventually disintegrate.
--
Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
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Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut