Chilly Chloroform?

[David L. Haviland, PhD]

On Thu, 19 Nov 1998, Richard P. Grant wrote:

> We have a protocol which calls for 'pre-chilled' chloroform during a
> (genomic) DNA extraction (the material for extraction is supposed to be at
> 'room temperature' after a 60C incubation).
> 
> I've never used CHCl3 cold - does anyone have any idea why one should??
> 
> (The method seems to work AOK with RT CHCl3 and the material placed on ice
> for 5').

Richard:

THis isn't obvious to me either but one thing did come to mind...  an
attempt at safety by keeping CHCl3's vapor pressure a bit lower?  So that
you, and your lab mates, aren't exposed to as much?  This came to me only
as I am our Insitutes safety officer and we also have someone in the lab
that is sensitive to CHCl3.

Just a thought...
David

==========================
David L. Haviland, PhD
Assistant Professor, Immunology
University of Texas, HSC - Houston
Institute of Molecular Medicine
2121 W. Holcombe Blvd.
Houston, TX  77030
http://www.uth.tmc.edu/~dhavilan
713.500.2413-Voice
713.500.2424-FAX
==========================