Proteins from carbonates?

[Nicholas Polunin]

Dear members

A PhD student and I are trying to extract small amounts  (ie <1% total dry weight) of all 
N-containing materials particularly protein from fish otoliths and teeth. The thought 
occurred that some of you might have done this from coral materials. 

We are currently considering acidifying the material to remove carbonate, but not only is the 
amount of acid needed quite large, a product is calcium chloride which takes up water and therefore 
means we cannot accurately weigh the deposit.

Suggestions for practical ways out of this impasse will be much appreciated!

Nick
Dr Nicholas Polunin
Reader
Dept of Marine Sciences
University of Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU
Tel +44 (0)191 222 6675/6661
Fax +44 (0)191 222 7891
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/mscmweb/
5th ICEF (2003) Environmental future of aquatic ecosystems
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/icef
~~~~~~~
For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the
digests, please visit www.coral.noaa.gov, click on Popular on the
menu bar, then click on Coral-List Listserver.