Agar belongs to the galactan polysaccharides, which make up the intracellular matrix in red seaweeds/marine algae belonging to class Rhodophyta. Agar is naturally slightly sulfated, and is a complex mixture of polysaccharides. Agarose is a neutral polymer component of agar. Heating of agarose gives rise to solution form which on cooling sets into gel form. Gel formation occurs due to double helical formation from molecular chains, which forms a water-immobilizing network.

Routine use agarose is ideal for everyday analysis of nucleic acids by gel electrophoresis or blotting (Northern or Southern) and is also suitable for protein applications such as Ouchterlony and radial immunodiffusion (RID). Has low ethidium bromide and SYBR Green background staining.

• Grade: for molecular biology
• Product line: BioReagent
• Impurities: =10% moisture content
• EEO: 0.09-0.13
• Transition temperature: gel point 36 °C (1.5% gel, ± 1.5 °C)
• Gel strength (force that must be applied to a gel to cause it to fracture): =1200 g/cm2 (1% gel)
• Anion traces: sulfate (SO42-): =0.15%
• Foreign activity: DNase, RNase, none detected
• Synonym: Trasylol, Trypsin inhibitor (basic)
• CAS Number: 9087-70-1
• Empirical Formula (Hill Notation): C284H432N84O79S7
• Molecular Weight: 6511.44
• MDL Number: MFCD00130541