How do you destain a Coomassie gel?

To destain Coomassie gel, rinse this first with water. Add around 200ml of the protein gel destain and microwave for about 45 seconds under the solution starts boiling. Incubate this with gentle shaking for about 15 minutes at room temperature.

What type of molecule does Coomassie blue stain?

Fazekas de St. Groth together with his colleagues used Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 or CBB R-250 in 1964 for the first time for visualizing proteins. The samples of protein were electrophoretically separated on a sheet of cellulose acetate. This sheet was soaked sulfosalicylic acid for fixing the bands of protein before being transferred to the dye solution. In 1965 two years later, Lambert and Meyer used CBB R-250 for staining samples of protein after the electrophoretic separation in polyacrylamide gel. The gel was soaked in the dye solution that contained water, acetic acid, and methanol. With the dye staining the protein and polyacrylamide gel, they had to have the gel stained that was made electrophoretically in order to visualize the bands of protein. Subsequent publications stated that the polyacrylamide gels can be destained successfully with the use of acetic acid solution.

How does Coomassie blue stain proteins?

Coomassie dye in staining reaction binds to the proteins through the ionic interactions between the groups of sulfonic acid and groups of positive protein amine through the Van der Waals attractions.

What is Coomassie blue staining used for?

Coomassie Brilliant Blue G was utilized in 2009 in scientific experiments for treatment of spinal injuries in lab rats. This functions through reducing the natural swelling response of the body that can cause the area’s neurons to die due to metabolic stress. Rat tests were found to be effective. They tested two groups of rats suffering from injuries. The dye was given as treatment for spinal injuries for the first group and nothing was given to the second group. The test results proved that compared to rats that didn’t receive the dye, rats treated using the dye got to move around much better and were also about to outperform rats with no dye treatment on the motion tests. There is still undergoing testing to identify if the treatment can also be effectively used in humans. Recent tests administered this dye in a matter of 15 minutes after the injury. For it to take effect in real life situations where it might take some time before the patient arrives at the emergency room, this treatment should take effect once administered within 2 hours following the injury. There was only one side effect reported and that is, rats turned blue temporarily.

How to remove coomassie stain from clothes

All sorts of stains can occur as you go about with your daily activities. While other stains are pretty common, there are some that only happen during certain occasions or instances.

One stain that might not be common is Comassie stain. But despite being uncommon, it is still a must to know how to get Coomassie stains out of clothes, especially if you happen to be handling this kind substance most of the time.

Table of Contents

What is Coomassie

Coomassie Brilliant Blue refers to a couple of triphenylmethane dyes that are similar and were made to be used in textile industry but have now become commonly used to stain proteins in the field of analytical biochemistry. Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 and Coomassie Brilliant Blue G-250 are different due to the addition of two more methyl groups. Coomassie name has been a registered trademark of the Imperial Chemical Industries.

What is Coomassie made of

Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 and its dimethyl derivative Coomassie Brilliant Blue G-250 are types of disulfonated triphenylmethane dyes used for creating a bright blue stain on protein bands.

These dyes bind with the protonated basic amino acids through electrostatic interaction and through hydrophobic associations with the aromatic residues. While the dye doesn’t bind with high affinity to polyacrylamide, it still penetrates the gel matrix, binding with low affinity that will require a destaining step except with the stain is colloidal formulation.

In general, Coomassie stains are treated as endpoint stains that allow substantial time flexibility for staining and fixation steps. Stains of Coomassie are reversible and noncovalent and don’t interfere with subsequent mass spectrometry of the exceed bands of protein.

Does Coomassie stain clothes

Unfortunately, due to the color of Coomassie, it might be safe to assume that this can leave some unwanted stains behind on clothes.

Does Coomassie stain permanent

Trying to get out Coomassie stains might be a bit tricky but as long as you tackle and get rid of them right away, you can be sure that these won’t be permanent blemishes on your clothes.

Does Coomassie stain damage clothes

Coomassie stains might be a bit serious and there is a chance that these might damage your clothes if you don’t remove them right away.

Does Coomassie stain come out of clothes

While Coomassie is water soluble, this is more or less soluble in ethanol or methanol. You can wash it several times and allow the garment to dry first before you wear it again.

What can remove Coomassie stain from clothes

You can try to prepare a destain solution of 50% dH2O, 10% HOAc, and 40% MeOH. Acetic acid and ethanol can also be used for removing Coomassie stains from clothes.

How to get rid of Coomassie stain on clothes

If Coomassie ever finds itself on your clothes, destaining is the best action to take. However, you will need to soak it, rinse, then repeat as needed. You can also try to blot it using wipes or paper towel afte soaking.

However, the specific way of dealing with these stains will still depend on the material that the garment is made from.

Always check the fabric care label to ensure that your chosen stain removal process doesn’t end up damaging your clothes.

Coomassie stains FAQs

For those who might not be familiar with Coomassie, chances are you got a few questions about it. Here are some of the FAQs about this dye.

How do you destain a Coomassie gel?

To destain Coomassie gel, rinse this first with water. Add around 200ml of the protein gel destain and microwave for about 45 seconds under the solution starts boiling. Incubate this with gentle shaking for about 15 minutes at room temperature.
What type of molecule does Coomassie blue stain?

Fazekas de St. Groth together with his colleagues used Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 or CBB R-250 in 1964 for the first time for visualizing proteins. The samples of protein were electrophoretically separated on a sheet of cellulose acetate. This sheet was soaked sulfosalicylic acid for fixing the bands of protein before being transferred to the dye solution.

In 1965 two years later, Lambert and Meyer used CBB R-250 for staining samples of protein after the electrophoretic separation in polyacrylamide gel. The gel was soaked in the dye solution that contained water, acetic acid, and methanol.

With the dye staining the protein and polyacrylamide gel, they had to have the gel stained that was made electrophoretically in order to visualize the bands of protein. Subsequent publications stated that the polyacrylamide gels can be destained successfully with the use of acetic acid solution.
How does Coomassie blue stain proteins?

Coomassie dye in staining reaction binds to the proteins through the ionic interactions between the groups of sulfonic acid and groups of positive protein amine through the Van der Waals attractions.
What is Coomassie blue staining used for?

Coomassie Brilliant Blue G was utilized in 2009 in scientific experiments for treatment of spinal injuries in lab rats. This functions through reducing the natural swelling response of the body that can cause the area’s neurons to die due to metabolic stress.

Rat tests were found to be effective. They tested two groups of rats suffering from injuries. The dye was given as treatment for spinal injuries for the first group and nothing was given to the second group. The test results proved that compared to rats that didn’t receive the dye, rats treated using the dye got to move around much better and were also about to outperform rats with no dye treatment on the motion tests.

There is still undergoing testing to identify if the treatment can also be effectively used in humans. Recent tests administered this dye in a matter of 15 minutes after the injury. For it to take effect in real life situations where it might take some time before the patient arrives at the emergency room, this treatment should take effect once administered within 2 hours following the injury. There was only one side effect reported and that is, rats turned blue temporarily.