What is Guanidine thiocyanate?

Identification

Product Name:    Guanidine thiocyanate    

Synonyms:    GTC;GUANIDINE THIOCYANATE;GUANIDINE HYDROTHIOCYANATE;GUANIDINE ISOTHIOCYANATE;GUANIDINE MONOTHIOCYANATE;GUANIDINE RHODANIDE;GUANIDINIUM THIOCYANATE;GUANIDINIUM ISOTHIOCYANATE    

CAS:    593-84-0    

MF:    CH5N3.CHNS    

MW:    118.16    

EINECS:    209-812-1    

Properties

Melting point     120-122 °C(lit.)   

Density     1.103 g/mL at 20 °C   

Refractive index     n20/D 1.482   

Storage temp.     Store at RT.    

Solubility     H2O: 6 M at 20 °C, clear, colorless   

Form     Crystals or Crystalline Powder    

Specific Gravity    1.152    

Color     White or colorless    

Odor    Odorless    

PH    4.8-6.0 (1420g/l, H2O, 20℃)(saturated solution)    

PH Range    4.8 - 6.0    

Water Solubility     Soluble in water and ethanol    

General Description

Guanidine thiocyanate is one of the cheapest and easiest to prepare of the guanidine salts. Guanidine Thiocyanate is an ultrapure, molecular biology grade reagent. It is free of detectable nuclease and protease activity and is a strong protein denaturant, as both the guanidinium cation and the thiocyanate anion are chaotropic agents. It is provided in one bottle containing 500 g. It is recommended for isolation of RNA, especially for tissues such as pancreas with high levels of RNase activity. In solution, it is known as guanidinium thiocyanate. Guanidine Thiocyanate is thoroughly tested for contaminating nonspecific endonuclease, exonuclease, and RNase activity.    

Application

Guanidine Thiocyanate is mainly used for biomedicine, chemical reagents. Guanidine thiocyanate is a potent protein denaturant (stronger than guanidine HCl) often used in the isolation of intact ribonucleic acid to eliminate RNase activity. RNase can recover activity after boiling, but is irreversibly inactivated in a 4 M solution of guanidine thiocyanate. Such solutions, to which the reducing agent b-mercaptoethanol is often added, are used to inactivate RNAse when isolating RNA from tissues that are rich in RNase, such as liver. Total nuclear and cytoplasmic RNA may be isolated this way. A protocol for extracting RNA with guanidine isothiocyanate has been published.

Guanidine Thiocyanate is a useful tool in for RNA isolation and protein solubilization, able to be extracted from urea easily. In the presence of guanidine thiocyanate, proteins dissolve readily, cellular structures disintegrate and nucleoproteins dissociate from nucleic acids, as protein secondary structure is lost.

Guanidine Thiocyanate is an ultrapure, molecular biology grade reagent. It is free of detectable nuclease and protease activity and is a strong protein denaturant, as both the guanidinium cation and the thiocyanate anion are chaotropic agents. It is provided in one bottle containing 500 g. It is recommended for isolation of RNA, especially for tissues such as pancreas with high levels of RNase activity. In solution, it is known as guanidinium thiocyanate. Guanidine Thiocyanate is thoroughly tested for contaminating nonspecific endonuclease, exonuclease, and RNase activity.

 When Guanidine Thiocyanate is used to solubilize proteins it can be removed by dialysis against urea without difficulty. The hybridization of guanidine thiocyanate-solubilized hepatocytes by Guanidine Thiocyanate can be used as a method to quantify mRNA from hepatocytes. Blood sample lysate stored in Guanidine Thiocyanate has been shown to maintain nucleic acid integrity. Research describes Guanidine Thiocyanate to be ineffective for RNA isolation of plant tissue with a high levels of secondary metabolites and storage proteins.