Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 15, 2026

Epon Post Embedding Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy
Published on: January 12, 2024
Probing the building blocks of eumelanins using scanning electron microscopy
J B Nofsinger1, S E Forest, L M Eibest
1Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0347, USA.
Abstract:
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used to examine the structure of natural and synthetic melanins. Eumelanin from Sepia officinalis and synthetic eumelanin are found to be structurally dissimilar. The natural sample has a significant structural order with subunits that have a lateral dimension of approximately 15 nm. The synthetic samples, on the other hand, appear to be amorphous solids. These results lend support for the existence of fundamental structural units proposed from the analyses of wide-angle X-ray diffraction measurements and previous mass-spectrometry results. These findings also provide insight into the disparate photophysical behavior of Sepia and synthetic eumelanin.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Scanning Electron Microscopy
Fundamental Principles
Accelerated...
Overview of Electron Microscopy
Preparation of Samples for Electron Microscopy
Immunogold Electron Microscopy
Electron Microscope Tomography and Single-particle Reconstruction
Electron Tomography
Electron tomography can be performed either in TEM or STEM (scanning transmission...

