Chromatography Forum

Will cultures/bacteria grow in a sealed bottle of 0.1 M TEAA pH 7.0?
If so, what would be an expected change in pH?

Cheers

Will cultures/bacteria grow in a sealed bottle of 0.1 M TEAA pH 7.0?

Unless the bottle and contents were sterilized, the answer is "yes".

If so, what would be an expected change in pH?

I would guess (but that's only a guess!) that the TEA would be a better "nutrient" than the acetate, which would make the pH drop.

Thanks Tom, I concur and confirmed with my LC results. Sterilization is key.

Use always fresh solutions might be a better alternative...

DeadlyTedly, how long did you have to let it sit around to give you these noticable changes in chromatography?

Acetate is an excellent "food" source. It is degraded so fast in a waste water treatment process that it vanishes before it can be sampled and measured. And spills to the river vanish similarly quickly. It is readily metabolized in mammals too, eg cows and silage. Not that this has anything to do with what will happen to the pH as something eats the buffer. The products formed may be more important than what got eaten. Considering what got formed, bugs, bug poop, column clogging slime, etc. , what went away would be the least of my worries.

That can be seconded emphatically. Even the slightest visible hint of microbes can produce havoc. Throw it away and don´t worry about the pH, have fun cleaning the bottle.

we found that concentrated sulfuric acid is a wonderful solvent for bugs and their products! That is what we cleaned bottles with when we forgot to dump them.

JA, I measured pH of open container over time and noted it has dropped from 7.00 when it was made to 5.33 with a mold like growth in the cap. Not firm on the dates for the drop since I only got a retain, but somewhere around 8 mths. The bottle was initally contaminated however.