Fisher Bioreagents Biological Grade Solvents

Focused on purity and performance.

Whether you are using a Fisher Chemical or thermo scientific product, you can trust Thermo Fisher Scientific’s range of chemicals to fulfil your research and life sciences needs. Our array of chemicals are available in varying purities and pack sizes.

Already using an existing Thermo Fisher Scientific product of instrument? For example, MagMAX kits, Kingfisher, taqpath, etc., we have complementing solvents and solutions such as the 80% Molecular Biology grade Ethanol for you. The table below outlines our top selling solvents in the biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

The tables below show some of our popular products in the biopharmaceuticals segment. Find out more from us today to place an order.

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Solutions for Protein and Nucleic Acid Electrophoresis

Fisher Bioreagents products deliver an end-to-end solution that can meet your most demanding electrophoresis requirements. You can depend on our expertise in electrophoresis instruments along with ultrapure reagents that are pre-qualified for your applications.

Protein Electrophoresis

Sodium dodecyl sulfate – polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) is the most direct method for assessing in a fast and reproducible manner, the relative molecular weight (Mr) of denatured polypeptide chains and the purity of a protein preparation. In SDS-PAGE, the sample to be applied to the gel is first treated with the anionic detergent SDS which denatures the proteins in the sample and binds tightly to the protein molecules. The SDS molecules confer a relatively uniform negative charge to the polypeptide in proportion to its length. When an electric current is applied across the gel, all proteins will migrate through the gel matrix toward the anode. In this way, SDS-PAGE separates proteins according to size because the SDS-coated proteins have a uniform charge:mass ratio. Proteins with less mass travel more quickly through the gel than those with larger mass because of the sieving effect of the gel matrix.

Preparation of Polyacrylamide Stacking and Separating Gels (SDS-PAGE)

Separating Gel (Total Volume, 15mL)1

Procedure for Gel Preparation

In a 25mL sidearm flask, mix the given volumes of Acrylamide/Bis-Acrylamide solution, Tris•HCl buffer, and H2O. Degas under vacuum 10 to 15 minutes. Add the SDS solution, Ammonium Persulfate solution, and TEMED. Swirl gently to mix. Use immediately.

1. These volumes are adequate for a gel of dimensions 0.75cm x 14cm x 14cm. (The recipes are based on the SDS (denaturing)-continuous buffer system of Laemmli (1970).)
2. The % acrylamide selected for the separating gel will depend on the molecular sizes of the proteins being separated.
3. Recipes for the stock solutions appear earlier in this section.
4. All reagents and solutions used in this protocol must be prepared with distilled deionized water.
5. Store at 4°C (maximum 5 days).

Fisher BioReagents™ Buffers for Protein Electrophoresis

Acrylamide, Bis-Acrylamide

Detergents/Denaturing Agents

Nucleic Acid Electrophoresis

Agarose is a linear polysaccharide composed of alternating residues of D- and L-galactose joined by glycosidic linkages. Agarose forms gels that are both porous and resilient. These gel properties provide a sieving matrix that allows the electrophoretic separation of charged macromolecules such as DNA or RNA according to size. Compared to polyacrylamide gel, agarose has a lower resolution but wider range of separation. Lower grades of agarose can be contaminated with other polysaccharides, salts, and proteins. Such impurities can alter the gelling/melting temperature of agarose solutions or affect the ability to use the recovered nucleic acid sample in a post-electrophoresis application.

All Fisher BioReagents® agarose are DNase and RNase-free to ensure optimal results for your nucleic acid application. Fisher BioReagents offers three different grades of agarose that are functionally tested and pre-qualified for specific applications.

Agarose grades used in electrophoresis of nucleic acids:

1. Genetic Analysis Grade—agarose that yields biologically active DNA or RNA. Testing includes enzymatic performance measurements.
2. Molecular Biology Grade—suitable for analytical separation of DNA or RNA.
3. PCR Grade—the original agarose for analytical separation of PCR amplicons (<1kb).

Two Factors for Selecting an Agarose

1. The size of DNA or RNA fragments to be analyzed (see graph below).

2. The type of downstream application that will follow electrophoretic separation (e.g., cloning procedures directly from re-melted agarose or in-gel reaction).

Nucleic Acid Electrophoresis

Two buffers commonly used for DNA agarose electrophoresis are Tris-acetate with EDTA (TAE; 40mM Tris-acetate, 1mM EDTA) and Tris-borate with EDTA (TBE, 89mM Tris-borate, 2mM EDTA). Because the pH of these buffers is neutral, the phosphate backbone of DNA has a net negative charge and migrates toward the anode. TAE and TBE have different properties which makes one more suitable than the other for a specific purpose.

MOPS is a commonly used buffer system for RNA electrophoresis using formaldehyde or formamide denatured RNA. It is important to use RNase-free chemicals, water and containers when preparing the buffer solution. The typical formulation of a 10X MOPS running buffer is 0.4M MOPS (pH 7.0), 0.1M sodium acetate, and 0.01M EDTA. The denaturing system chosen depends on the purpose of the RNA experiment and the size of the RNA fragment being separated. Formaldehyde denaturation is suitable if RNA samples are to be recovered. Formamide denaturation is suitable if the RNA needs to retain its biological activity.

Suggested Agarose Concentrations: The optimal gel concentration depends on the size of the DNA fragments to be resolved.

Buffers for Nucleic Acid Electrophoresis

LC-MS Application for Protein Characterization

Liquid chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (LC-MS) can be used to characterize virus proteins and the recombinant proteins produced by viral vectors that both are essential throughout the vaccine development and many manufacturing workflows. It is also used for Omics-based diagnostic tests of virus protein/peptide biomarkers complement the RT-PCR based methods.

Here are some of our solvents and reagents used to support these LC-MS workflow applications:

To view our extensive catalog on Liquid Chromatography solvents, head on over to our Analytical Solvents page.

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