after denaturation of albumin with alcohol the colour of denatured albumin is white but upon addition of glutaraldehyde to crosslink the denatured albumin the colour turns into yellow from milky white. Can anybody explain me, what is the mechanism behind this appearance of yellow colour ?
Dear Birendra,
the appearance of yellow color is caused by light scattering - Blue light is scattered more effectively (higher energy than other wavelengths), and the remaining light gives the impression of the "complementary color": Yellow.
The keyword is "Rayleigh-scattering", or elastic light scattering known from physics.
So, any solution with aggregates or other particles of nanoscale size capable of scattering light will cause a similar yellowish tint as you experience. Since glutaraldehyde crosslinks proteins and therefore changes the particulate size to orders in which scattering appears, you get observable extent of elastic light scattering.
The same principle is responsible for the red and pink colors displayed by a nice sunset :)
Best,
Peter
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