[Mechanism of glutaraldehyde-protein bond formation]

Commercial aqueous 25% glutaraldehyde solutions contain no stable derivative of this aldehyde, but compounds of variable molecular weight which easily revert to glutaraldehyde. The effect of pH on the reaction of glutarldehyde with amino acids and on the stability of the products under acid conditions, shows the importance of the structure modification of the dialdehyde which occurs when pH increases, and even leads to precipitation in highly alkaline solutions. This precipitate results from aldol condensation of glutaraldehyde molecules. It contains aldehyd groups conjugated with ethylenic double bonds. Such a structure reacts with amino groups to give an imino bond, stabilized by resonance with the ethylenic bond, and does not undergo Michael-type addition reactions. Therefore, glutaraldehyde does not react with proteins under its free form, but as an unsaturated polymer, which gives imino bonds stabilized by conjugation.