Ancient Greek text concealed on the back of unrolled papyrus revealed through shortwave-infrared hyperspectral imaging.

Only a few Herculaneum rolls exhibit writing on their reverse side. Since unrolled papyri are permanently glued to paperboard, so far, this fact was known to us only from 18th-century drawings. The application of shortwave-infrared (SWIR; 1000-2500 nm) hyperspectral imaging (HSI) to one of them (PHerc. 1691/1021) has revealed portions of Greek text hidden on the back more than 220 years after their first discovery, making it possible to recover this primary source for the ongoing new edition of this precious book. SWIR HSI has produced better contrast and legibility even on the extensive text preserved on the front compared to former imaging of Herculaneum papyri at 950 nm (improperly called multispectral imaging), with a substantial impact on the text reconstruction. These promising results confirm the importance of advanced techniques applied to ancient carbonized papyri and open the way to a better investigation of hundreds of other such papyri.

Impact of boron complexation by Tris buffer on the initial dissolution rate of borosilicate glasses.

Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane is a commonly used buffer for leaching studies on glasses. In this work, we demonstrate that it plays a role on the alteration kinetics of borosilicate glasses. Comparative dissolution experiments on a soda-lime silicate glass and a sodium borosilicate glass, in several solutions with or without Tris at neutral pH, are carried out in order to assess the specific effects of the ionic strength and of the Tris molecules on the initial dissolution kinetics. Tris has no effect on the dissolution of the soda-lime silicate glass, while it significantly enhances the dissolution of the borosilicate glass, by increasing the B, Na, and Si release rates. This specific effect on the borosilicate glass is attributed to the Tris-boron complexation and discussed. The bidentate complexation of boron by Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris) with a 1:1 stoichiometry is directly demonstrated by infrared and NMR spectroscopies. Complexation constants are determined for the Tris-borate complex and its protonated form Tris-boric, from the (11)B and (1)H NMR spectra. This complexation should be taken into account when using the Tris/HCl buffer in alteration experiments of borosilicate glasses.