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Chemistry and materials for cultural heritage

This thematic series on "Chemistry and Materials for Cultural Heritage" covered:

Development and application of analytical methods and equipment for non-invasive, non-destructive, portable analysis of artwork and objects of cultural significance to identify component materials, degradation products and deterioration markers.

Understanding and prediction of degradation of artwork and objects of cultural significance in order to stop or delay the effects, including development of theoretical prediction models.

Development of treatment materials for artwork and objects of cultural significance.

Editor: Richard Brereton


  1. This paper discusses results obtained in the second monitoring campaign of the Carcer Tullianum, a particular hypogeum environment located in the historical centre of Rome (Italy). In the first paper we stress...

    Authors: Giovanni Visco, Susanne Heidi Plattner, Patrizia Fortini and Maria Pia Sammartino
    Citation: Chemistry Central Journal 2012 6:104
  2. Italian technical normative in the field of cultural heritage is often considered insufficient or not suitable in practise, therefore efforts are necessary to design new and/or improve already existing ones.

    Authors: Susanne Heidi Plattner, Rita Reale, Giovanni Visco, Maria Grazia Papa and Maria Pia Sammartino
    Citation: Chemistry Central Journal 2012 6:62
  3. Natural resins were frequently employed as adhesives or as components of oleo-resinous media in paintings in the past. The identification of vegetable resins is still an open problem. The aim of this paper is ...

    Authors: Mario Vincenzo Russo and Pasquale Avino
    Citation: Chemistry Central Journal 2012 6:59
  4. The aim of this work was to study the Altar Machine in the Church Mother of Gangi, a little town near Palermo (Italy) regarding the history, the technical manufacture, the constitutive materials and the state ...

    Authors: Angela Lo Monaco, Maurizio Marabelli, Claudia Pelosi and Michele Salvo
    Citation: Chemistry Central Journal 2012 6:47
  5. Establishing the distribution of materials in paintings and that of their degradation products by imaging techniques is fundamental to understand the painting technique and can improve our knowledge on the con...

    Authors: Anna Lluveras-Tenorio, Alessia Andreotti, Ilaria Bonaduce, Sarah Boularand, Marine Cotte, Josep Roqué, Maria Perla Colombini and Marius Vendrell-Saz
    Citation: Chemistry Central Journal 2012 6:45
  6. For millennia, iron-tannate dyes have been used to colour ceremonial and domestic objects shades of black, grey, or brown. Surviving iron-tannate dyed objects are part of our cultural heritage but their existe...

    Authors: Helen Wilson, Chris Carr and Marei Hacke
    Citation: Chemistry Central Journal 2012 6:44
  7. A sampling campaign of indoor air was conducted to assess the typical concentration of indoor air pollutants in 8 National Libraries and Archives across the U.K. and Ireland. At each site, two locations were c...

    Authors: Lorraine T Gibson, Abdunaser Ewlad-Ahmed, Barry Knight, Velson Horie, Gemma Mitchell and Claire J Robertson
    Citation: Chemistry Central Journal 2012 6:42
  8. Isopropanol is widely used by conservators to relax the creases and folds of parchment artefacts. At present, little is known of the possible side effects of the chemical on parchments main structural componen...

    Authors: Lee G Gonzalez, Jennifer Hiller, Nick J Terrill, Joanna Parkinson, Kate Thomas and Tim J Wess
    Citation: Chemistry Central Journal 2012 6:24
  9. Formic acid, acetic acid and formaldehyde are important compounds in the indoor environment because of the potential for these acids to degrade calcareous materials (shells, eggs, tiles and geological specimen...

    Authors: Peter Brimblecombe and Carlota M Grossi
    Citation: Chemistry Central Journal 2012 6:21