Immersion Oil for light microscopy

In our experiences, the ZEISS 518 F Immersion oil (refractive index 1.518 at 20 deg. C shows best performance of the brands tested here mainly due to its low intrinsic fluorescence (background).

Caveat: Different brands of immersion oil may perform badly when mixed!

This is indicated in most cases by a crystal precipitate. (an old ZEISS immersion oil brand showed crystal formation at room temperature. Do not use this oil anymore, and do not mix it with the new brand regardless of their identical product number!

Therefore,

  • never mix oil from different bottles! (even do not mix old and new batches of the ZEISS oil)
  • refill oil dispensers with oil identical to the previous brand / charge
  • exchange oil bottles with red rubber fittings for new, different ones available from the facility (ask A. Scherbarth, phone 228)
  • clean oil objectives with ethanol or methanol
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