Application

MES hydrate has been used in the MS (Murashige and Skoog) media for growth of Arabidopsis seedlings. It has been added in the cytoskeleton buffer during immunofluorescence study.

General description

MES is one of the Good′s buffers, the most extensively used biological buffers. MES is a zwitterionic N-substituted aminosulfonic acid with a morpholinic ring. It does not form complexes with majority of the metals used in environmental and biological studies. It is easily soluble in water and has minimum lipid solubility, making it impermeable to membranes.

Other Notes

Easily compare specifications for MES products with the MES specification table.

Solubility: MES is soluble in water, giving a clear colourless solution at concentrations of 0.5 M or higher. This product is tested at 20g/80mL water, or 1.3 M. The pH of a solution should be between 2.5 and 5, depending on the concentration. A saturated solution at 0°C is approximately 0.65 M.

Packaging

25, 100, 250 g in poly bottle

25, 50 kg in poly drum

1 kg in poly bottle

Preparation Note

A buffer using MES can be prepared by titrating with NaOH to the desired pH. Alternatively, stock solutions of MES and MES sodium salt can be mixed to attain the desired pH. Standard mixing tables using stock solutions to prepare buffers of a given pH have been published. MES is not recommended for buffering at pH 7.4; other buffers should be considered.

Storage and Stability

Solutions are stable at 2-8°C for months. Sterilize by filtration through 0.2uM filters. Autoclaving is not recommended for any sulfonic acid buffer. If buffers must be nuclease-free, treat the water first, and then add the buffer after autoclaving. When MES solutions are autoclaved, they turn yellow (although pH does not change measurably). The identity of the yellow breakdown product is unknown.