How are biological buffers different from surfactants?

In recent years, biological buffers have been widely used in the fields of cell culture, molecular biology, protein purification or electrophoresis analysis. They can keep the pH value of the solution stable when a certain amount of acid or alkali needs to be added to some solutions. In addition to buffers and salts, there are also surfactants in the formulations of biological buffers that are usually contacted, such as adding Tween-20 to Tris buffer, adding polyethylene glycol octyl phenyl ether to HEPES buffer, etc. . So in the buffer solution composition, what is the difference between surfactant and buffer?

Different Functions

The main function of the buffer is to adjust the pH value and maintain the pH stability of each substance to adapt to the environment. The addition of surfactants is actually a reagent that changes the surface tension of liquids, and is often used in detergents and cleaning agents.

Formulation ingredients in buffer solutions

Some buffers are simple in composition, containing only buffer and water, while others contain surfactants and salts. Usually, when configuring a buffer solution, you only need to follow the steps to complete it. Sometimes it is necessary to explore whether an experiment uses other buffers or does not add surfactants. This needs to be known according to the specific experimental operation. Although the amount of surfactants in the buffer formulation is not large, its effect is ineffective. ignore.

Multiple formulations of the same buffer

In fact, sometimes different biochemical experiments are performed, even if the same buffer is used, there are differences. For example, in some protein and nucleic acid related detection experiments, in addition to buffers, there are surfactants and various different buffer systems in the buffer system. ingredients.

Commonly used buffers and surfactants

Commonly used buffers are mostly zwitterionic buffers, such as Tris, HEPES, MOPS, Bicine, CAPS, etc., which have both acidic and basic groups. The difference between surfactants is that although they also contain "amphoteric", their molecular structure has both hydrophilic groups and hydrophobic groups, which is different from common buffers.

Desheng Biochemical is a manufacturer specializing in the development and production of biological buffers. The series of products sold include Tris, HEPES, MOPS, Bicine, CAPS, etc., which can meet the needs of different customers. Today, such products have been exported to various countries and are well received by customers. The company specially sets up a quality department to detect the quality problems of various products, ensure the customer's purchase experience, and let customers spend less money. If you have any needs in this regard, please click on the official website for details!