Phenol distillation

[Shaun D. Black]

dace at shrike.und.ac.za (Roy Dace) wondered about the need for phenol distillation
for use in mol biol work ups.  First, I agree that phenol distillation is _not_
a pleasant task.  In fact, this is the only way I have ever been involved in a
chemical accident (some phenol dribbled down the back of a flask and my hand 
became covered when I picked up the flask; hot phenol also dissolves gloves).  
Second, off-the-shelf phenol doesn't appear to be good enough to yield DNA of
sufficient quality for most experiments.  Subsequently, it must be distilled
and subsequently saturated with a lightly alkaline Tris buffer.  However, I
strongly suggest that you buy your distilled phenol.  A number of suppliers
have it; our preferred supplier is Amresco.  It is quite inexpensive, especially
in consideration of the unpleasantries of distilling phenol yourself.  Cheers,

     Shaun

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  = Shaun D. Black, PhD   | Internet address:     shaun at jason.uthct.edu = 
  = Dept. of Biochemistry | University of Texas Health Center, at Tyler = 
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