A Comparison of Methods of Measuring the Formaldehyde Content of Formaldehyde-Treated Wool

Methods of assessing the formaldehyde content of formaldehyde-treated wool are examined, particularly in the light of inherent short-comings, and results obtained by several methods are compared. The often-used acid-distillation method is rather inadequate in that no measurement of the total formaldehyde reacted with the wool is obtained, but only a measurement of the add-removable formaldehyde which is present in the treated protein. Measurements of weight increase during formaldehyde treatment of wool are technically feasible but are of little use due to intrinsic factors. Measurement of decrease in solution concentration can be used to gain an estimate of the total formaldehyde removed from the solution, but it does not distinguish between loose and firm formaldehyde-wool associates. A radiochemical technique is shown to be the only currently available method that gives an accurate and reliable measurement of the formaldehyde content of formaldehyde-treated wool.