Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide

Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide is a phase transfer catalyst ideal for the precipitation of DNA. Hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide is a bactericidal, cationic detergent. Its activity is neutralized by soaps and anionic detergents (i.e., SDS). Trimethylammonium bromide compounds form insoluble complexes with SDS. It is active at alkaline pH against both Gram positive and Gram negative organisms.

Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide is used as a cationic surfactant suitable for the isolation of high molecular weight DNA in plants and other organisms (by a rapid method) as well as plant DNA for use in PCR analysis. It has been used to precipitate nucleic acids. CTAB provides enhancement of Concanavalin A mediated agglutination. It has been used for the determination of protein molecular weights in electrophoretic systems and for determination of critical micelle concentration of detergents. CTAB has also been used as a titrant for potentiometric titration of perchlorate and as a phase-transfer catalyst in reduction of arenes and heterocyclic compounds.