Coomassie blue dyes are a family of dyes commonly used to stain proteins in SDS-PAGE gels. The gels are soaked in dye and excess stain is then eluted with a solvent ("destaining"). This treatment allows the visualization of protein bands. Bio-Rad offers coomassie stains in three major formats.
Bio-Safe Coomassie— Bio-Safe colloidal Coomassie Brilliant Blue G-250 stain is a premixed, ready-to-use, nonhazardous solution that does not require the use of methanol and acetic acid for destaining. Bio-Safe Coomassie stain produces blue bands on a clear background and is fast, simple, sensitive, and convenient. The composition of Bio-Safe Coomassie requires no additional solvent waste disposal costs.
Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250— Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 staining solution is the fastest and easiest way to Coomassie-stain Criterion or other polyacrylamide protein gels. Coomassie R-250 staining and destaining solutions are ready to use.
Coomassie Reagents— Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 and G-250 powder is available in 10 gram vials. The Coomassie G-250 is more sensitive but R-250 provides better resolution and lower cost.
