Complex Particles in Hevea Latex

Abstract

LATEX freshly tapped from Hevea brasiliensis is known to contain particles other than rubber. By high-speed centrifugation, Cook and Sekhar¹ parted such latex into a top fraction and a bottom fraction with serum between. Both fractions are visibly heterogeneous, and Moir² has recently distinguished no less than eleven zones in centrifuged latex. Only three types of particle have been described in the literature so far. These are the rubber particles, often pear shaped, found in the top fraction, the Frey Wyssling particles³, which are yellow bodies found mostly in the lower part of the top fraction, and the ‘lutoid’ particles of Homans and van Gils⁴. The term ‘lutoid’ was originally applied to large irregularly shaped islands of a yellowish colour consisting of mainly non-rubber material and seen in whole fresh latex. Ruinen⁵ detected a particulate structure in these islands and uses the term to describe individual globules seen therein. Schoon and Phoa⁶ mention that “inside the lutoid vacuoles, in a few cases very small particles are to be observed in Brownian motion”. Up to date, no photographs of this phenomenon have been published.