An experiment to refute the likelihood of cellulose carboxylation.

Abstract

To test the hypothesis that cellulose in linen can be carboxylated at high temperatures in the presence of CO (sub 2) , water and silver, we heated two aliquots of cellulose extracted from old wood in glass ampoules, adding Ag powder to one to test its potential action as a catalyst for the carboxylation reaction. AMS measurement of the heated aliquots showed no statistically significant difference in (super 14) C content from the "uncarboxylated" cellulose. We conclude that carboxylation is not a systematic source of error in the dating of cellulose-containing materials such as the linen in the Shroud of Turin.