Acetic Acid (0.6%)

Acetic Acid (0.6%) is a dilute aqueous solution of acetic acid, the two-carbon carboxylic acid with a pKa of about 4.5. Dilute acetic acid appears in peptide laboratory work in several roles: acetate is a common counter-ion for synthetic peptides, often exchanged in place of the trifluoroacetate left by purification, and boiling acetic acid has been used to extract neuropeptides from tissue for radioimmunoassay. Research Market supplies 0.6% acetic acid as a ready-made laboratory reagent for dissolving and diluting lyophilized research peptides. It is sold strictly for laboratory research use.

Chemical structure and identification

• Molecular formula: C₂H₄O₂
• Molecular weight: 60.05 g/mol
• CAS number: 64-19-7
• PubChem CID: 176
• Concentration: 0.6% acetic acid in water
• Form: Clear aqueous solution

Research applications

• Peptide counter-ion exchange: Approaches for replacing the trifluoroacetate counter-ion of a synthetic cationic peptide, including reverse-phase HPLC and ion-exchange resin, allowed partial to almost complete exchange to the counter-ion of a weaker acid such as acetic acid (pKa 4.5) [1]
• Counter-ion effects in cell culture: Trifluoroacetate at 10^-8 to 10^-7 M reduced cell numbers in fetal rat osteoblast and chondrocyte cultures, and the TFA salts of amylin and calcitonin gave less proliferation than the hydrochloride salts, leading the authors to recommend converting peptides to a hydrochloride or biologically equivalent salt [2]
• Peptide extraction: Among four methods compared for extracting substance P, neurokinin A and CGRP from human dental pulp, boiling the tissue in acetic acid gave the highest overall yield [3]

Reference citations

1. Roux S. et al. (2008). Elimination and exchange of trifluoroacetate counter-ion from cationic peptides: a critical evaluation of different approaches. J Pept Sci, 14(3):354–359. PMID 18035848 · DOI
2. Cornish J. et al. (1999). Trifluoroacetate, a contaminant in purified proteins, inhibits proliferation of osteoblasts and chondrocytes. Am J Physiol, 277(5):E779–E783. PMID 10567002 · DOI
3. Awawdeh L. et al. (1999). A comparison of four extraction methods for substance P, neurokinin A and calcitonin gene-related peptide from human dental pulp tissue. Arch Oral Biol, 44(12):999–1004. PMID 10669077 · DOI

Compound data from PubChem CID 176. Literature summaries describe published preclinical research and are not claims about this product’s effects in humans or animals.