Synonyms: Thioethylene glycol, Thioglycol; beta-Mercaptoethanol; 2-Hydroxyethylmercaptan; BME; Thioethylene glycol
Molecular Formula: C2H6OS
Molecular Weight: 78.13
Linear Structural Formula: HSCH2CH2OH
MDL Number: MFCD00004890
Purity: >=99% (GC)
Melting Point: <-50 C
Density: 1.114 g/mL at 25 C (lit.)
Refractive Index: n20/D 1.500 (lit.)
Application: BME is suitable for reducing protein disulfide bonds prior to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and is usually included in a sample buffer for SDS-PAGE at a concentration of 5%. Cleaving intermolecular (between subunits) disulfide bonds allows the subunits of a protein to separate independently on SDS-PAGE. Cleaving intramolecular (within subunit) disulfide bonds allows the subunits to become completely denatured so that each peptide migrates according to its chain length with no influence due to secondary structure.