Guanidine hydrochloride

White powder. Soluble in water (6M) or ethanol (1M). Chemical. CAS: 50-01-1. Formula: CH5N3 . HCl. MW: 59.07 . 36.46. Guanidine hydrochloride is a powerful, chaotropic agent which is widely used for purification of proteins and nucleic acids. It is useful for denaturation and refolding of proteins as well as in the recovery of periplasmic proteins. At higher concentrations, this strong denaturant has been reported to solubilize denatured insoluble proteins such as inclusion bodies and to increase the solubility of hydrophobic molecules. When utilized at lower concentrations, it is useful in prompting the refolding of denatured proteins. Guanidine hydrochloride is also been reported to allow return of enzymatic activity in protocols using it as a first step. Guanidine hydrochloride is used in RNA isolation to dissociate nucleoproteins and inhibit RNase.