Lithium acetate
Names
Preferred IUPAC name
Lithium acetate
Identifiers
3D model (JSmol)
ChEBI
ChemSpider
ECHA InfoCard 100.008.105 Edit this at Wikidata
EC Number
  • 208-914-3
KEGG
MeSH C488804
RTECS number
  • AI545000
UNII
  • InChI=1S/C2H4O2.Li/c1-2(3)4;/h1H3,(H,3,4);/q;+1/p-1 ☒N
    Key: XIXADJRWDQXREU-UHFFFAOYSA-M ☒N
  • InChI=1/C2H4O2.Li/c1-2(3)4;/h1H3,(H,3,4);/q;+1/p-1
    Key: XIXADJRWDQXREU-REWHXWOFAX
  • [Li+].CC(=O)[O-]
Properties
C2H3LiO2
Molar mass 65.98 g·mol−1
Appearance crystal
Density 1.26 g/cm3
Melting point 286 °C (547 °F; 559 K)
45.0 g/100 mL[1]
−34.0·10−6 cm3/mol
Hazards
Occupational safety and health (OHS/OSH):
Main hazards
 toxic
NFPA 704 (fire diamond)
NFPA 704 four-colored diamondHealth 2: Intense or continued but not chronic exposure could cause temporary incapacitation or possible residual injury. E.g. chloroformFlammability 0: Will not burn. E.g. waterInstability 0: Normally stable, even under fire exposure conditions, and is not reactive with water. E.g. liquid nitrogenSpecial hazards (white): no code
2
0
0
Lethal dose or concentration (LD, LC):
500 mg/kg (oral, mouse)
Safety data sheet (SDS) External MSDS
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
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Lithium acetate (CH3COOLi) is a salt of lithium and acetic acid. It is often abbreviated as LiOAc.

Uses

Lithium acetate is used in the laboratory as buffer for gel electrophoresis of DNA and RNA. It has a lower electrical conductivity and can be run at higher speeds than can gels made from TAE buffer (5-30V/cm as compared to 5-10V/cm). At a given voltage, the heat generation and thus the gel temperature is much lower than with TAE buffers, therefore the voltage can be increased to speed up electrophoresis so that a gel run takes only a fraction of the usual time. Downstream applications, such as isolation of DNA from a gel slice or Southern blot analysis, work as expected when using lithium acetate gels.

Lithium boric acid or sodium boric acid are usually preferable to lithium acetate or TAE when analyzing smaller fragments of DNA (less than 500 bp) due to the higher resolution of borate-based buffers in this size range as compared to acetate buffers.

Lithium acetate is also used to permeabilize the cell wall of yeast for use in DNA transformation. It is believed that the beneficial effect of LiOAc is caused by its chaotropic effect; denaturing DNA, RNA and proteins.[2]

References

  1. ^ Lide, David R. (1998). Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (87 ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. p. 465. ISBN 0-8493-0594-2.
  2. ^ Norcum, MT (Aug 15, 1991). "Structural analysis of the high molecular mass aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase complex. Effects of neutral salts and detergents". The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 266 (23): 15398–405. doi:10.1016/S0021-9258(18)98629-1. PMID 1651330.
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