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Glite Dictionary
🧪 A tissue preservative 🧪 A disinfectant
glutaraldehyde

glutaraldehyde

1 9.3
A chemical used to kill germs and preserve medical equipment and water systems
  • noun
  • /ɡluːtərˈæl.dɪ.haɪd/
  • Specialized
: glutaraldehído
  • The lab technician prepared a 2% glutaraldehyde solution to disinfect the surfaces.

Examples

  • Moments after your death, a response team will start the process of emergency glutaraldehyde perfusion (EGP) for protein fixation (a kind of advanced embalming process).

    Blog text (14)

  • Both the vaginal photoplethysmograph and the penile strain gauge were sterilized in a solution of Cidex-activated glutaraldehyde between uses (Geer, 1980).

    Academic text (2004)

  • A solution of glutaraldehyde is effective in sterilizing medical instruments before surgery.

  • For effective water treatment, glutaraldehyde is used as a potent disinfectant.

Surface Forms

glutaraldehyde singular
glutaraldehydes plural

Morphology

glutaraldehyde = aldehyde (opaque) = glutar + aldehyde

The combining form 'glutar-' is not a standalone English word and the name is a specialist chemical term, so general learners cannot infer its meaning from the parts.

Etymology

Glutaraldehyde is made of two parts: glutar- (from a name for a five-carbon acid) and -aldehyde, the same ending as formaldehyde. Because the -aldehyde part can 'link' to proteins and damage microbes, glutaraldehyde is used to disinfect and sterilize equipment.