A preservative for body fluids, proteins, cells and tissues comprising an effective amount of an AGE crosslink breaker for preventing formation of advanced glycation end products. The AGE crosslink breaker comprises a compound of Structure (1):wherein V, W, X, Y and Z are any atom suitable for a heterocyclic carbene or carbene precursor framework, including B, C, O, N, S, Se, P, and As in any chemically-feasible oxidation state wherein Q, R, M, T and U are any atom or substituent, including but not limited to, H, CLn, NLn, PLn, OLn, SLn, SeLn, LnCl, LnBr, LnI, wherein L is any atom, substituent or group, and n is any integer such that Q, R, M, T, and U can access all chemically-feasible oxidation states and wherein G comprises any charged counter ion including, but not limited to those derived from C, O, N, B, Al, S, Se, Cl, Br, I in any chemically-feasible oxidation state.
