Synonyms: Aminoformamidine hydrochloride; GuHCl; Guanidinium chloride; Guanidium chloride
Storage: room temp
Application: Guanidine hydrochloride is commonly used as a denaturant, because of its ability to break hydrogen bonds between amino acid residues. By breaking these bonds, the 3D conformation of the protein is unfolded and the aqueous solubility of the protein is greatly increased. Once denatured, the protein can be easily reduced, modified, or analyzed, in a variety of procedures. Further processing of the sample can allow the proteins to be analyzed by other common protein analysis methods including mass spectrometry, electrophoresis, and enzymatic digests. Guanidine hydrochloride has also typically been used for the isolation of RNA, to denature globular proteins, and for protein refolding studies. It can also be used to facilitate the generation of tryptic peptides for analysis of complex protein samples.