Hello all,
I'm trying to look at how a certain kind of beetle grips itself to the leaf it's on. I'm looking to flash freeze the beetle and the leaf by using liquid nitrogen, however, to transfer them both to the SEM, I need to critically point dry them first. Can I transfer them from the nitrogen to increasing amounts of acetone and then to the dryer like I would with ethanol-stored leaves, or are more steps needed?
Thanks in advance!
Hello,
I will suggest to go directly with cold pure acetone and do a temperature gradient to avoid thermal chock; acetone at -80°C then going slowly at room temperature (-20°C then +4°C).
What is the size of your sample? with the size increasing, you will need more time to exchange ice with acetone; reason why I suggest pure acetone.
Thanks for the suggestion! My samples are about 125mm^3, two of them. I do have pure acetone available, so that might work well.
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