what is NP-40?

[Cornelius Krasel]

Michael Cooley (szcooley at chip.ucdavis.edu) wrote:
> I was told that NP-40 was the same as Triton X-100. Is this true?

According to the Calbiochem brochure "detergents" this seems to be the
case. Both Triton X-100 and NP-40 are nonaethylene glycol octylphenyl
ethers. Surprisingly, the same brochure gives different CMCs and molecular
weights for Triton X-100 and NP-40. The reason for this might be that
apparently neither Triton X-100 nor NP-40 are chemically pure substances
but mixtures of PEG octylphenyl ethers, with the PEG part not precisely
defined.

--Cornelius (neither affiliated with Calbiochem nor expert for detergents).

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/* Cornelius Krasel, Abt. Lohse, Genzentrum, D-82152 Martinsried, Germany  */
/* email: krasel at alf.biochem.mpg.de                 fax: +49 89 8578 3795  */
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