Identification of cellulose ethers in cultural heritage by means of MALDI-TOF-MS

Cellulose ethers used as adhesives in heritage conservation treatments have been successfully identified by means of MALDI-TOF-MS, a technique non-previously applied for this purpose in cultural assets. This is of relevant importance for long-term conservation, as discrimination among the diverse types of cellulose ethers that may have been applied to an asset during conservation treatments is essential in order to guarantee stability of artworks. The proposed method also allows discrimination among these adhesives spread on paper-based artworks, where cellulose ethers have been extensively utilized for many years, overcoming interferences usually occurred due to the cellulosic nature of both adhesive and support. Successful results have been obtained from mock-ups and small samples of paper-based original artworks with usual low concentrations of adhesive. FTIR and NMR have been used as complementary analytical techniques.