A salt formed due to corrosion on restored artwork features structure known from biology
Monday, March 16, 2020 - 10:10
in Biology & Nature
The relief "Adoration of the Shepherds" by the Italian sculptor Giuseppe Torretti is disfigured by lumpy salt crystals. Now, a research group has established that the calcium acetate hemihydrate that makes up these efflorescences bears a similar structure to the protein collagen. The structural characteristics not only help prevent damage of this kind, but have also provided the researchers with interesting new ideas for bioinorganic chemistry.