Triton X-100 (C14H22O(C2H4O)n) is a nonionic surfactant that has a hydrophilic polyethylene oxide chain (on average it has 9.5 ethylene oxide units) and an aromatic hydrocarbon lipophilic or hydrophobic group.
Undiluted Triton X-100 is a clear viscous fluid (but less viscous than undiluted glycerol) owing to the hydrogen bonding of its hydrophilic polyethylene oxide parts. Undiluted Triton X-100 has a viscosity of about 270 centipoise at 25 °C which comes down to about 80 centipoise at 50 °C.
Triton X-100 is a commonly used detergent in laboratories. Triton X-100 is widely used to lyse cells to extract protein or organelles, or to permeabilize the membranes of living cells.
Some applications include
Industrial purpose (plating of metal) Permeabilizing unfixed (or lightly fixed) eukaryotic cell membranes Solubilizing membrane proteins in their native state in conjunction with zwitterionic detergents such as CHAPS Part of the lysis buffer (usually in a 5% solution in alkaline lysis buffer) in DNA extraction Reducing surface tension of aqueous solutions during immunostaining (usually at a concentration of 0.1-0.5% in TBS or PBS Buffer) Dispersion of carbon materials for soft composite materials Restricting colony expansion in Aspergillus nidulans in microbiology Decellularization of animal-derived tissues Removing SDS from SDS-PAGE gels prior to renaturing the proteins within the gel Disruption of cell monolayers as a positive control for TEER measurements. Apart from laboratory use, Triton X-100 can be found in several types of cleaning compounds, ranging from heavy-duty industrial products to gentle detergents. It is also a popular ingredient in homemade vinyl record cleaning fluids together with distilled water and isopropyl alcohol.[citation needed] It is a good micellar catalyst.