the invention relates to methods and compositions particularly useful for the environmentally friendly and non - reversible neutralization of aldehydes present in waste generated from sterilizing medical devices ( e . g ., scalpels , scissors , endoscopes , etc .) or laboratory equipment ( e . g ., glassware ) that have been exposed to microorganisms such as bacteria . as used herein , the term non - reversible is intended to refer to the substantial prevention of the neutralized aldehyde ( e . g ., amino acid treated aldehyde ) from reverting back to the starting or unneutralized aldehyde . sterilizing includes disinfecting medical devices . neutralization of aldehydes by bases work with aldehydes that do not contain an α - hydrogen . a cannizzaro reaction is a base - affected disproportionation of two moles of aldehyde without α - hydrogen to give an alcohol and an acid ( cannizzaro , s . ann ., 88 , 129 , 1853 ). aromatic aldehydes fall into the category of aldehydes without α - hydrogen and opa is a good example of an aromatic di - aldehyde without α - hydrogen . it is not obvious that if this chemistry could be used for our neutralization purpose . for example , for a close analogue of opa , benzaldehyde needs to be heated with hydroxide ion to undergo cannizzaro reaction as shown below . heating is not desirable in the hospitals . another concern is the two adjacent aldehyde groups on the benzene ring may complicate and prevent the reaction at mild condition such as at room temperature . however , as disclosed hereinafter , use of opa is preferred and offers the unexpected advantage of not requiring heating to be neutralized by naoh since neutralization of opa by naoh is accomplished at room temperature . the neutralizer comprises a basic compound or a precursor to a basic compound that forms a basic compound in - situ prior or during the neutralization process . examples of basic compounds are those compounds which contain at least one hydroxide group . suitable basic compounds are selected from the group consisting of sodium hydroxide , potassium hydroxide , calcium hydroxide , lithium hydroxide , magnesium hydroxide , ferric hydroxide , aluminum hydroxide and mixtures thereof . examples of precursors to basic compounds include those which form a hydroxide compound when exposed or introduced to water . suitable precursor compounds include compounds selected from the group consisting of metallic lithium , metallic sodium , metallic potassium , metallic magnesium , metallic calcium , sodium hydride , potassium hydride , magnesium hydride , calcium hydride , lithium hydride , sodium methoxide , sodium ethoxide , potassium methoxide , potassium ethoxide and mixtures thereof . when the basic compound is used in solution form , suitable solvents comprise water and alcohol . suitable alcohols may include methanol , ethanol , isopropanol , n - propanol , and butanols . water or alcohol may also contain acetone , acetonitrile , or tetrahydrofuran ( thf ). bases are an improvement over the typical chemicals such as ammonia or sodium bisulfite used to neutralize aldehydes since the bases effectively neutralize aldehydes to a level prescribed by federal and state environmental agencies . effective amounts of the base to the aldehydes will vary based on the aldehyde being neutralized and the base used . in the case of o - phthalaldehyde as the aldehyde and naoh as the base , nonhazardous neutralization will occur when the molar ratio range of naoh to o - phthalaldehyde is typically at least about 2 . 4 : 1 , typically from about 2 . 4 : 1 to 100 : 1 ; preferably from 3 : 1 to 20 : 1 , more preferably from 4 : 1 to 15 : 1 ; and most preferably from 5 : 1 to 10 : 1 . the neutralization of the aldehyde solution with naoh may have a high ph , which may have an adverse effect to the environment . therefore , depending on the ph of the neutralized solution , proper adjustment of the ph may be needed . adjustment of the ph of the neutralized aldehyde may be accomplished by adding water , buffer , an acid or an acid salt of an amino acid to the neutralized aldehyde solution . the acid may be an organic or inorganic acid . examples of suitable organic acids include amino acids , formic acid , acetic acid , propionic acid , butyric acid , benzoic acid , and mixtures thereof . examples of suitable inorganic acids include hydrochloric acid , sulfuric acid , phosphoric acid , potassium dihydrogen phosphate , nitric acid and mixtures thereof examples of suitable acid salts of amino acids include glycine hydrochloride , glycine bisulfate , histidine monohydrochloride , histidine dihydrochloride , lysine dihydrochloride , lysine sulfate , or any other amino acid hydrochloride and mixtures thereof an amino acid could be any essential amino acid or its derivatives . to neutralize aldehydes , the basic compound in solution or in solid form may be added to waste water that is in a tank ( e . g ., a neutralization tank at a waste water treatment plant ), or in a small container ( e . g ., a bucket ) where aldehydes must be neutralized before they are placed into a sewer system that may discharge to a potw or into navigable waters . solids contaminated with aldehydes ( e . g ., dirt , rags , or gloves , etc .) may be neutralized by directly adding the neutralizer to the solids or by placing the solids into a container with the neutralizer and , optionally , water . thus another embodiment of the invention relates to a system for neutralizing an α - hydrogen - free aldehyde and making the aldehydes less toxic comprising : a source of α - hydrogen - free aldehyde without α - hydrogen selected from the group consisting of o - phthalaldehyde , formaldehyde and mixtures thereof directed to the container ; and a source of a base directed to the container to yield treated aldehydes of lower toxicity than the untreated aldehydes . additionally the system may further comprise a source of a ph adjusting material to adjust the ph of the treated aldehyde . the source of materials suitable for use in conjunction with the systems of this invention are the same as disclosed above in the discussion relating to the methods of this invention . additionally , the system may contain controls on any of the sources added to the container to achieve the treated aldehyde having a lc 50 greater than 500 mg / l , or any other desired non - toxicity level . unless specified , all the reactions were performed at room temperature and concentrations are expressed on a w / v % basis except as noted and except when reference is made to 0 . 55 % ( w / w %) opa from cidex ® opa solution wherein this solution is expressed in a weight to weight basis . the method used to evaluate the extent of neutralization was based on the visual examination of color of the solution (“ color visualization ”). glycine solution ( 1 %) was used to detect the presence of opa . the appearance of any green color or dark green or black green is a good indication of the presence of opa . if only one aldehyde group was present ( if the other reacted with an oxidant ), other color would display upon adding glycine , such as yellow , yellowish orange or orange or even reddish colors . although the darkness of the green - flavored color of the schiff s base formed between glycine and opa is good indication of opa level one has to keep in mind that the schiff s base could be oxidized to cause darker color . caution must be taken where comparison is needed in these situations . although hplc analysis is an ultimate tool for the analysis of di - aldehyde remaining , we found that the above estimation is quite sufficient for our purpose . in a 20 ml scintillation vial with 10 . 0 ml cidex ® opa solution ( 0 . 55 % opa ), 1 . 0 ml of 1 . 0n sodium hydroxide ( molar ratio naoh : opa = 2 . 44 : 1 ) was added and the solution was allowed to stand overnight ( 16 hrs ) at room temperature . there was no color change observed and the solution appeared to be exactly the same as that of untreated cidex ® opa solution . 0 . 2 ml 1 % glycine was added to 1 . 0 ml of the reacted solution from example 1 and allowed to stand for 1 hr , a yellowish - orange color was developed quickly and stabilized . example 3 . ( opa + glycine ) 0 . 2 ml of 1 % glycine was added to 1 . 0ml of 0 . 55 % opa solution and allowed to stand for 1 hr . as expected , the opa solution gave a black color quickly as compared to the yellowish - orange color from treated solution of example 2 . by comparing the results of examples 2 and 3 , naoh is effective to neutralize opa . in this example , the same procedure was used in example 1 and a series of reactions were carried out with differing amounts of sodium hydroxide . vial c has the same solution as described in example 1 . after the reaction , 1 . ml of the solution from each of the solutions was mixed with 0 . 2 ml 1 % glycine and 5 minutes were allowed for any color to develop ( table 2 ). referring to table 2 , as the amount of naoh increases (& gt ; 2 . 0 ml ), the final color of the solutions becomes lighter , indicating that more of the opa is being neutralized . the ph of the neutralized solutions were shown to be basic and understandably the value of the ph depends on the amount of the base used . the ph of the final solution could be decreased easily with 10 % hydrochloric acid . examples are shown in table 3 . the ph was determined with ph test paper . the neutralized solution was basic having ph 11 . the ph could also be decreased easily with 1 % glycine . examples are shown in table 4 . the ph was determined with ph test paper . the advantages to use amino acid , such as glycine , are that : ( 1 ) amino acids neutralize excess of base as demonstrated in table 4 ; ( 2 ) amino acids also neutralize and remaining free aldehyde to form schiff &# 39 ; s base ; and ( 3 ) some color may develop after adding glycine which indicates either not enough naoh is added or too much opa is used . alternatively , acid salts of amino acids can also be used . these include glycine hydrochloride , glycine bisulfate , histidine monohydrochloride , histidine dihydrochloride , lysine dihydrochloride , lysine sulfate , or any other amino acid hydrochloride . in that case , much smaller amount will be needed to adjust the ph . at the same time , it can also neutralize any remaining aldehydes . glycine hydrochloride is preferred for this purpose . [ 0053 ] california code regs (“ ccr ”) title 22 - fathead minnow hazardous waste screen bioassay . the following experiments were conducted to determine whether the aldehydes neutralized by the basic compound , naoh , were hazardous under the above californian regulation , except the more stringent concentration level of 750 mg / l was used instead of the less stringent 500 mg / l concentration of the californian regulation . ( a ) a solution of 50 % sodium hydroxide ( 64 . 03g ) was added to fresh 0 . 55 % opa ( il ), stirred to mix and stood at room temperature for 58 hours . the mole ratio of opa to sodium hydroxide was 1 : 19 . 52 . the ph of the solution was about 13 . the solution was then neutralized with 10 % hydrochloric acid to ph 7 . 0 . the solution is colorless . test results indicated all twenty fish survived the challenge with 750 mg / l concentration in 96 hours . a solution of 50 % sodium hydroxide ( 64 . 03g ) was added to fresh 0 . 55 % opa ( 1l ), stirred to mix and stood at room temperature for 58 hours ( opa to sodium hydroxide mole ratio = 1 : 19 . 52 ). the solution was neutralized with 10 % hydrochloric acid to ph 8 . 0 . test results indicated all twenty fish survived the challenge with 750 mg / l concentration in 96 hours . ( c ) the same test in ( a ) was repeated with half amount of base . a solution of 50 % sodium hydroxide ( 32 . 01g ) was added to fresh 0 . 55 % opa ( 1l ), stirred to mix and allowed to stand at room temperature for 58 hours ( opa to sodium hydroxide mole ratio = 1 : 9 . 76 ). the solution was neutralized with 10 % hydrochloric acid to ph 7 . 0 . test results indicated all twenty fish survived the challenge with 750 mg / l concentration in 96 hours . a solution of 50 % sodium hydroxide ( 32 . 01 g ) was added to fresh 0 . 55 % opa ( 1l ), stirred to mix and allowed to stand at room temperature for 58 hours ( opa to sodium hydroxide mole ratio = 1 : 9 . 76 ). the solution was neutralized with 10 % hydrochloric acid to ph 8 . 0 . test results indicated all twenty fish survived the challenge with 750 mg / l concentration in 96 hours . a solution of 50 % sodium hydroxide ( 32 . 01 g ) was added to fresh 0 . 55 % opa ( 1l ), stirred to mix and stood at room temperature for 58 hours ( opa to sodium hydroxide mole ratio = 1 : 9 . 76 ). the solution was neutralized with 10 % hydrochloric acid to ph 8 . 5 . test results indicated all twenty fish survived the challenge with 750 mg / l concentration in 96 hours . a solution of 50 % sodium hydroxide ( 32 . 01 g ) was added to fresh 0 . 55 % opa ( il ), stirred to mix and stood at room temperature for 58 hours ( opa to sodium hydroxide mole ratio = 1 : 9 . 76 ). the solution was neutralized with 10 % hydrochloric acid to ph 9 . 0 . test results indicated all twenty fish survived the challenge with 750 mg / l concentration in 96 hours . thus , the foregoing fish tests show that the methods and systems of this invention substantially exceed the non - toxicity requirements of ccr title 22 . in the preceding detailed description , the invention is described with reference to specific embodiments thereof . it will , however , be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims . the specification and drawings are , accordingly , to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense .
methods and systems for alleviating the problems of toxic discharge of aldehydes present in waste streams are disclosed . the methods relate to forming neutralized aldehydes by treating aldehydes with basic compounds . the use of bases offers a simple , effective and inexpensive solution for treatment of toxic aldehydes prior to disposal into the environment .