2-Merceptoethanol is used to reduce disulfide bonds and can act as a biological antioxidant by scavenging hydroxyl radicals. 2-Merceptoethanol is used to reduce disulfide linkages in solubilizing proteins for gel electrophoresis. 2-mercaptoethanol is readily oxidized in air to a disulfide, especially at alkaline pH. Because of this property, it is widely used to protect proteins, enzymes in particular, from becoming inactive. An excess of 2-mercaptoethanol (generally used at 0.01 M) will maintain the protein thiol groups in their reduced state.
2-Merceptoethanol is suitable for reducing protein disulfide bonds prior to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and is usually included in a sample buffer for SDS-PAGE. 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.
Purity: ≥98%
Concentration: 14.3 M (pure liquid)
Key Applications: Solubilization of proteins
Application Areas: Protein purification and identification, Electrophoresis
Product Type: Biochemicals
Density: 1.12 g/cm3 at 20°C
Boiling Point: 154 - 161°C (Lit.)
Melting Point: < -50°C (Lit.)
Vapor Density: 2.69 (air = 1) (Lit.)
Vapor Pressure: .76 hPa at 20°C (Lit.)
Refractive Index: n20/D 1.500(lit.)
Presentation: Liquid
pH: 5.0 (0.1M in water) kindly refer COA; for storage: pH 6-7 with EDTA (0.05 mM)
NOTES:
Note for Electrophoresis Use: Researchers have seen artifactual bands in SDS-PAGE systems, appearing in the range of 54 to 68 kDa, particularly in 2-dimensional electrophoresis systems when sensitive staining techniques are used to detect proteins, such as gold or silver staining. Although these have appeared when 2-mercaptoethanol is used, they have been attributed to the action of 2-mercaptoethanol on some component in the system. These bands may be eliminated by removing the 2-mercaptoethanol from the protein sample during equilibration and replacing it by iodoacetamide, which reportedly improves recovery and detection of proteins.
Solubility: Miscible with water, alcohol, ether and benzene. This product typically gives clear solutions when diluted 1:1 in water or diluted 2:1 in 1 M Tris buffer.
Storage & Handling: Store at Room Temperature (15-30°C).