Detergents for Protein Sample Preparation

Detergents are used in electrophoresis when it is necessary to disrupt protein-lipid or protein-protein interactions. SDS is the most common detergent used in PAGE analysis, because most proteins are readily soluble in it. Bio-Rad SDS solutions are highly purified — an important feature, since impurities in SDS have unpredictable effects on electrophoretic mobility. SDS solutions provide highly purified SDS in convenient 10% and 20% solutions. They are prepared with 18 MΩ water and have no detectable DNase or RNase activity. Highly purified SDS powder gives excellent results in the electrophoresis method of Laemmli (1970) and optimizes activity recovery in enzyme purification applications.

Tween 20 for blotting, and octylphenol ethoxylate and CHAPS for membrane protein solubilization are also available. For simple, accurate pipetting, a solution of 10% Tween 20 is also available.