Life Science Buffers
Balanced salt solutions and powders used for molecular, protein, nucleic acid, and cell biology applications including cell culture, electrophoresis, ELISA, and chromatography processes; available in a variety of formulations and grades.
Buffer solutions serve to keep pH (acidity or alkalinity) nearly constant in a variety of chemical and biological applications. For example, a bicarbonate buffer helps maintain the pH of blood, a buffered saline maintains cellular contents at a consistent pH level, and buffers help maintain a narrow pH range for enzymes to function correctly.
Most biological samples used in research are kept at a pH of about 7.4. Common biological buffers used for tissue culture include Dulbeccos phosphate buffered saline (PBS), Tris base, HEPES, MOPS, PIPES, and other formulations developed for specific cell lines or applications. Most buffers used in cell culture are also DNase-, RNase-, and protease-free.
The choice of buffer for a particular biological reaction or site depends on several factors:
- Temperature
- Desired or target pH
- Buffer toxicity (to the system)
- Buffer interactions with other system components
Gibco™ PBS (10X), pH 7.4
Gibco™ Balanced Salt Solutions are sterile-filtered, packaged in bioprocess containers, and ready to order.
HEPES Buffer, 1M Solution, pH 7.3 (Molecular Biology), Fisher BioReagents™
Commonly used buffering agent
Thermo Scientific Chemicals HEPES, 1.0M buffer soln., pH 8.0
CAS: 7365-45-9 Molecular Formula: C8H18N2O4S Molecular Weight (g/mol): 238.30 MDL Number: MFCD00006158 InChI Key: JKMHFZQWWAIEOD-UHFFFAOYSA-N PubChem CID: 23831 ChEBI: CHEBI:42334 IUPAC Name: 2-[4-(2-hydroxyethyl)piperazin-1-yl]ethanesulfonic acid SMILES: OCCN1CCN(CCS(O)(=O)=O)CC1
Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS), 10X Powder, pH 7.4, Fisher BioReagents™
Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS), 10X Powder provides a convenient way to make 1 L of 10X stock PBS solution.
Thermo Scientific Chemicals Phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, 10X), pH 7.4
Non-toxic to most cells and is used in biological research.
Thermo Scientific Chemicals HEPES, 0.5M buffer soln., pH 7.5
CAS: 7365-45-9 Molecular Formula: C8H18N2O4S Molecular Weight (g/mol): 238.30 MDL Number: MFCD00006158 InChI Key: JKMHFZQWWAIEOD-UHFFFAOYSA-N PubChem CID: 23831 ChEBI: CHEBI:42334 IUPAC Name: 2-[4-(2-hydroxyethyl)piperazin-1-yl]ethanesulfonic acid SMILES: OCCN1CCN(CCS(O)(=O)=O)CC1
Thermo Scientific Chemicals TRIS, 0.5M buffer soln., pH 6.8
CAS: 77-86-1 Molecular Formula: C4H11NO3 Molecular Weight (g/mol): 121.136 MDL Number: MFCD00004679 InChI Key: LENZDBCJOHFCAS-UHFFFAOYSA-N PubChem CID: 6503 ChEBI: CHEBI:9754 IUPAC Name: 2-amino-2-(hydroxymethyl)propane-1,3-diol SMILES: C(C(CO)(CO)N)O
Thermo Scientific Chemicals MES, 0.5M buffer soln., pH 6.0
CAS: 145224-94-8 Molecular Formula: C6H15NO5S Molecular Weight (g/mol): 213.248 MDL Number: MFCD00283848 InChI Key: MIIIXQJBDGSIKL-UHFFFAOYSA-N PubChem CID: 16218417 IUPAC Name: 2-morpholin-4-ylethanesulfonic acid;hydrate SMILES: C1COCCN1CCS(=O)(=O)O.O
Thermo Scientific Chemicals MOPS, 1.0M buffer soln., pH 7.0
CAS: 1132-61-2 Molecular Formula: C7H15NO4S Molecular Weight (g/mol): 209.26 MDL Number: MFCD00006183 InChI Key: DVLFYONBTKHTER-UHFFFAOYSA-N PubChem CID: 70807 ChEBI: CHEBI:44115 IUPAC Name: 3-morpholin-4-ylpropane-1-sulfonic acid SMILES: [O-]S(=O)(=O)CCC[NH+]1CCOCC1
Thermo Scientific Chemicals HEPES, 1.0M buffer soln., pH 7.5
CAS: 7365-45-9 Molecular Formula: C8H18N2O4S Molecular Weight (g/mol): 238.30 MDL Number: MFCD00006158 InChI Key: JKMHFZQWWAIEOD-UHFFFAOYSA-N PubChem CID: 23831 ChEBI: CHEBI:42334 SMILES: OCCN1CCN(CCS(O)(=O)=O)CC1
Thermo Scientific Chemicals MES, 0.2M buffer soln., pH 6.0
CAS: 145224-94-8 Molecular Formula: C6H15NO5S Molecular Weight (g/mol): 213.248 MDL Number: MFCD00283848 InChI Key: MIIIXQJBDGSIKL-UHFFFAOYSA-N PubChem CID: 16218417 IUPAC Name: 2-morpholin-4-ylethanesulfonic acid;hydrate SMILES: C1COCCN1CCS(=O)(=O)O.O