Kinetics of Formaldehyde and Plasma Albumin with Hemicetals

Formaldehyde is a simple member of the aldehyde family and one of the simplest organic molecules. It is known to be ubitiquious in nature and has been found to be toxic over certain doses. The chances of harmful effects are reported to increase under room temperature because of its volatility and have also been reported as occupational and environmental toxicant. In spite of these claims, there is paucity of knowledge of the reaction kinetics and mechanisms of formaldehyde with carrier proteins, common non-foods and food materials in the literature. This book presents the results of the analyses and kinetics of the reaction of formaldehyde and plasma albumin based on spectrophotometric method using acetylacetone and acetoacetanilide reagents.The results show that elevated values of formaldehyde are present in the commonly used foods, non food materials and human body fluids analyzed and formaldehyde binds two moles of plasma albumin forming Schiff bases slowly through hemiacetal radicals.This also suggests that the reaction is based on binding or associative mechanism.This book would useful for researcher and students of inorganic chemistry as well as environmental scientists.