2-mercaptoethanol

[XYZZYX at DELPHI.COM]

Denni Schnapp <ds4 at st-andrews.ac.uk> writes:


>Dear netters,

>Could anyone enlighten me about the dangers of inhaling 2-mercaptoethanol?
>There seems to be disagreement about how harmful the stuff actually is,
>though certainly everyone agrees it reeks! Also, for this reason I thought
>DTT would be a better alternative for use in SDS PAGE reduction buffers.
>However, it does not seem to be very popular. Has anybody tried it with
>Tricine SDS PAGE?

>Thanks for your advise!

>Denni (ds4 at st-and.ac.uk)

can't comment on the dangers (although it can't be that great for you).

DTT works very well, actually.  Works with Tricine gels too.  I seem to 
recall reading about a phosphorous containing molecule from Pierce that 
didn't smell and was supposed to be a good reducing agent to replace 
BME.  Check the Pierce chemical catalog.

Good luck