We make our fluorescent mounting media in the lab and freeze stock for future thawing. Lately, we have seen almost immediate polymerization of the solution upon thawing and a very low time period between it becoming too viscous for use.
First, we were freezing in amber drop bottles that have rubberized connectors in the cap. Then, thinking the seal not being tight enough was causing the problem, we switched to centrifuge tubes. Same results.
Any ideas would be a big help!
Depending on the monomer make-up of the media, you could try adding in some polymerization inhibitors (like MEHQ for acrylates) which can be removed by filtering the media through something like activated alumina - not sure if that would remove anything else in the media though.
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