It despends on what you mean by coating with resin. Obviously a total encapsulation with an epoxy resin coating will do little to prevent clumping - and would likely ensure that the spores could never germinate.
The spores need to be coated with preferably a monolayer of silica nanoparticles. This can be done with or without a chemical binder. Without a chemical binder the silica nanoparticles stick to the surafce of the spores with van der Waals forces. If handled roughly, the bulk powder may lose some of the coating. However, if a chemical binder is used the silica nanoparticle swill stick with much stronger chemical bonds. An ideal chemical binder is a siloxane resin. Sush a resin has a silcon containg end that will bind to the silca, and the other end is an epoxy group that will bind to the organic surface of the spore. Using a binder like this will provide a much more robust silica coating - and the spore will still be able to germinate.
Hey TR,
What I meant by “coating with resin” in the original post was in reference to how it was phrased in the document to which you directed my attention. What they said in that original article was incorrect.
It should be obvious why I won’t go into detail on this topic but lets try it this way:
Yes, there were three main components in the Stepnogorsk anthrax formulation...I won’t identify them. We were only told about them during a discussion on the complexities of making a biological weapon so that we would understand how to evaluate someone else’s work and the level of threat their weapon posed. Even with this level of knowledge, we would not be able to reproduce the work as Dr. Alibek never gave us more than what we needed. “He was training biodefense experts, not bioterrorists” was a phrase that circulated around the students.
Aside from the fact that one could not just mix these three ingredients as one so chose and mix them at a time as one so chose, I’ll offer this last comment. None of the three primary ingredients was used to help anything stick to anything. The issues were completely different.
Next time I have a chemistry question, though, I’m asking you!
I’m trying to get geocities to help me with a website so that I can upload my dissertation for the public but am having problems with the page builder. I’ll let everyone know when I have the technical difficulties conquered. My new email address is Anderson51704@yahoo.com.