Introduction to the Use of Biological Buffer PIPES CAS 5625-37-6

Biological buffering agent Pipes, also known as piperazin-N, N '- di (2-ethanesulfonic acid), is a substance widely used in biochemical experiments. It plays a crucial role in many biological experiments due to its unique chemical properties and functions. Especially when it comes to solution systems containing metal ions, the use of Pipes buffer becomes particularly important.

Firstly, Pipes are often used as pH buffering agents in biological experiments. Its ionization characteristics can maintain relatively stable pH values in different pH environments, providing a stable pH environment for experiments. This characteristic is particularly important when dealing with solution systems containing metal ions. Most metal ions easily bind with other ligands to form stable complexes. However, Pipes can maintain good separation from these metal ions, keeping them in a free state in the solution, thereby ensuring pH stability.

PIPES powder

Taking the purification of microtubule protein by cellulose phosphate chromatography as an example, Pipes played a crucial role in this process. Microtubulin is an important protein that participates in the composition of the cytoskeleton and processes such as cell division. During the purification process, it is necessary to maintain the pH stability of the solution system to ensure the biological activity of microtubule proteins. As an effective pH buffer, Pipes have successfully maintained a constant pH, providing important support for the purification and functional research of microtubule proteins.

In addition, Pipes was also used in the purification of recombinant GTP binding proteins ARF1 and ARF2 by gel filtration. GTP binding proteins are an important class of signal transduction proteins that participate in intracellular signal transduction processes. In this experiment, Pipes not only played a pH buffering role, but also provided a suitable ion environment for proteins, which helped stabilize and separate them.

It is worth mentioning that Pipes are also used as buffer for crystallization of transketolase from Escherichia coli. Transketolase is an important enzyme involved in the metabolism of sugars. In this experiment, the pH buffering effect of Pipes is crucial for maintaining enzyme activity. Meanwhile, the ion environment provided by Pipes also contributes to the stability of the enzyme and the smooth progress of the crystallization process.

However, although Pipes have played an important role in many biological experiments, there are still some things to pay attention to. For example, Pipes are not suitable for application in redox systems. This is because Pipes can form free radicals, which may lead to unwanted oxidation or reduction reactions. Therefore, when conducting experiments involving redox reactions, other appropriate buffering agents should be selected.

Product packaging

In addition, special attention should be paid to the concentration of Pipes when using cation exchange chromatography. Due to the relatively high ion strength of pipes, high concentrations of pipes may affect the effectiveness of chromatographic separation. Therefore, when using cation exchange chromatography, it is usually recommended to use low concentration Pipes buffer. In addition, due to the concentration dependence of the pKa value of Pipes, precise control of their concentration may be necessary in certain specific experiments.

Nevertheless, the advantages of Pipes as a biological buffer are still evident. Its good stability, strong compatibility, easy access, and high security make Pipes an ideal choice in many biological experiments. With the continuous deepening of biological science research, Pipes will play a more important role in future research. If you need to purchase biological buffering agents such as PIPES, you can check the official website of Desheng for more details!

FAQ

Why is PIPES buffer used?

PIPES is used as a buffering agent with pKa near the physiological pH which makes it useful in cell culture work. It has been shown to minimize the lipid loss when buffering glutaraldehyde histology in plant and animal tissues and has a negligible capacity to bind divalent ions.

What is the buffer range of PIPES?

PIPES has two pKa values. One pKa (6.76 at 25 °C) is near the physiological pH which makes it useful in cell culture work. Its effective buffering range is 6.1-7.5 at 25 °C. The second pKa value is at 2.67 with a buffer range of from 1.5-3.5.