Tricine is an

organic compound Some chemical authorities define an organic compound as a chemical compound that contains a carbon–hydrogen or carbon–carbon bond; others consider an organic compound to be any chemical compound that contains carbon. For example, carbon-co ...

that is used in

buffer solution A buffer solution is a solution where the pH does not change significantly on dilution or if an acid or base is added at constant temperature. Its pH changes very little when a small amount of strong acid or base is added to it. Buffer solution ...

s. The name tricine comes from

tris Tris, or tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane, or known during medical use as tromethamine or THAM, is an organic compound with the formula (HOCH2)3CNH2. It is extensively used in biochemistry and molecular biology as a component of buffer solutions ...

and

glycine Glycine (symbol Gly or G; ) is an amino acid that has a single hydrogen atom as its side chain. It is the simplest stable amino acid. Glycine is one of the proteinogenic amino acids. It is encoded by all the codons starting with GG (G ...

, from which it was derived.Good, N.E., et al., Biochemistry, v. 5, 467 (1966). It is a white crystalline powder that is moderately soluble in water. It is a

zwitterion In chemistry, a zwitterion ( ; ), also called an inner salt or dipolar ion, is a molecule that contains an equal number of positively and negatively charged functional groups. : (1,2- dipolar compounds, such as ylides, are sometimes excluded from ...

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the 22 α-amino acids incorporated into proteins. Only these 22 a ...

that has a pKa1 value of 2.3 at 25 °C, while its pKa2 at 20 °C is 8.15. Its useful buffering range of pH is 7.4-8.8. Along with bicine, it is one of Good's buffering agents. Good first prepared tricine to buffer chloroplast reactions.

Applications

Tricine is a commonly used

electrophoresis Electrophoresis is the motion of charged dispersed particles or dissolved charged molecules relative to a fluid under the influence of a spatially uniform electric field. As a rule, these are zwitterions with a positive or negative net ch ...

buffer and is also used in resuspension of cell pellets. It has a higher negative (more negative) charge than

allowing it to migrate faster. In addition its high ionic strength causes more ion movement and less

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

movement. This allows for low

molecular weight A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by Force, attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemi ...

proteins to be separated in lower percent acrylamide gels. Tricine has been documented in the separation of proteins in the range of 1 to 100 kDa by electrophoresis. The tricine buffer at 25 mmol/L was found to be the most effective buffer among the ten tested for ATP assays using firefly luciferase. Tricine has also been found to be an effective scavenger of hydroxyl radicals in a study of radiation-induced membrane damage.Hicks, M., and Gebicki, J. M., "Rate constants for reaction of hydroxyl radicals with Tris, Tricine, and Hepes buffers." "FEBS Lett.", 199(1):92-94.

References

{{reflist Triols Buffer solutions Alpha-Amino acids Amino acid derivatives Zwitterions Hydroxy acids Ethanolamines

Applications

See also

References