Fiat Lux ... how Alessandro Volta illuminated his scripts

Elettra Barberis,Svetlana Zilberstein,Emilio Marengo,Gleb Zilberstein,Pier Giorgio Righetti,Marcello Manfredi

doi:10.5802/crchim.128

Abstract

The ink used by Volta in his scripts appears to be a very complex mixture. Our analysis of the eluates from the EVA diskettes (via GCXGC/TOFMS) has revealed the presence of more than 1800 unique metabolites. The ink thus appears to be a very complex combination of different ingredients, mainly consisting of tannins, vegetable oils and resins together with root and wood dyes. In particular, the presence of hydroxy and dihydroxyanthraquinones, as well as natural quinoids, evidenced the use of madder dyes from Rubiaceae as an important component of this ink. Natural quinoids, based on a 9, 10-anthraquinone skeleton, hydroquinone and anthrone derivatives, and even the specific marker of alizarin, indicate the use of the Rubia tinctorum. Additionally, the presence of several signals of fatty acids, saturated and unsaturated mono and dicarboxylic acids, as well as of the typical signals of Pinaceae resins substantiated the use of a vegetable oil and colophony. Several signals of cyclic monosaccharides suggested also the use of natural gum (Acacia Senegal also known as Arabic gum). It is known that Arabic gum, as well as linseed oil, were often employed as thickeners to increase the viscosity of the ink and to protect it from excess absorption of atmospheric oxygen. Curiously, we also found characteristic signals from alkaloids such as Dioncophyllin A and B, typical metabolites from tropical/exotic plants such as Triphyophyllum, Habropeltatum and Dioncophyllum. To our reckoning such an extensive array of ingredients in inks adopted over millennia has never been reported.

Highlights

Perhaps most of us have forgotten what a unique figure of a scientist Alessandro Volta was in the XVIII century, an individual who dominated the horizon in its second half
The metabolomic analysis performed on molecules captured from the surface of the above pages reported the presence of more than 1800 unique molecules
The first column displays the names of the various molecules, while the second one gives the retention times (RT) in the first and second dimensions, followed by their area, similarity, base mass, retention index, signal to noise (SN) ratio of each peak and quantitative mass

Summary

Introduction

Perhaps most of us have forgotten what a unique figure of a scientist Alessandro Volta was in the XVIII century, an individual who dominated the horizon in its second half. Though, his major and unique contribution to science was the discovery of the “pila” (dubbed by him “apparato elettromotore” or “apparato a Colonna”), the very first power supply generating a continuous current and a potential differential. He communicated his invention to the president of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, in a letter dated 20 March 1800 that was published in the “Philosophical Transactions” with the title “On the Electricity excited by the mere Contact of conducting Substances of different Kinds”. Albert Einstein in 1927, the first centenary of Volta’s death: “the pila is the fundamental base of all modern inventions” [1,2]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion