Looking for extra-light mineral oil for PCR
Bryan L. Ford
MM wrote:
>
> Looking for extra-light mineral oil for PCR.
>
> I am doing PCR with robot. To prevent drying I add oil to the
> microplates first, than set up PCR mixes.
> In that case a drop of water phase is not centered in
> the microplate well: it often hangs on the side.
>
> I use Light Mineral Oil from SIGMA,
> 0.84 g/ml. Can anyone recommend any extra-light mineral oil?
Max:
Density of oils is unlikely to vary as much as you would like. But
density is not really the problem here. Once you are substantially below
the density of the PCR mix (and mineral oil is) the issue then becomes
the ease with which the oil flows up around the aqueous droplet. I
suggest you consider a lower *viscosity* oil. You can definitely find
oils with much lower *viscosities* than light mineral oils. Kerosene or
kerosene and mineral oil mixtures can readily be used. If you wish to
have a high purity oil, then some high purity n-alkanes could be used,
such as 99+% n-decane or n-dodecane; about $45 to $50 for 500 ml from
Sigma. Incidentally these two alkanes have densities of 0.73- 0.75 g/ml,
and thus meet your original request as well. Depending on the lid
retention scheme in your PCR thermocycler, you may want to make certain
that the vapor pressure of any light oil at 95 degrees is minimal enough
to prevent the tops from popping off.
Good luck,
Bryan L. Ford
Dr. Duncan Clark
In article <3365B0...@bcc.orst.edu>, "Bryan L. Ford"
<fo...@bcc.orst.edu> writes
>> I use Light Mineral Oil from SIGMA,
>> 0.84 g/ml. Can anyone recommend any extra-light mineral oil?
I saw something many moon ago in an old Biotechniques about using, I
think, silicon oil available then from Aldrich.
Duncan
--
The problem with being on the cutting edge is that you occasionally get
sliced from time to time....
Duncan Clark
DNAmp Ltd.
TEl/FAX 01252376288
http://www.dnamp.com
http://www.genesys.demon.co.uk
Michael Finney
>I am doing PCR with robot. To prevent drying I add oil to the
>microplates first, than set up PCR mixes.
>In that case a drop of water phase is not centered in
>the microplate well: it often hangs on the side.
>
>I use Light Mineral Oil from SIGMA,
>0.84 g/ml. Can anyone recommend any extra-light mineral oil?
My company, MJ Research, has an oil with a density of only 0.77 g/ml.
It is called "Chill-Out 14" because it has the additional feature that it
will solidify below about 14 deg. C. Even if this feature is no use to
you, the oil itself is quite nice, with a light weight and a very low
viscosity. It comes either clear or with a red dye for easy visibility,
and is bottled under clean conditions.
1-888 735 8437 or sa...@mjr.com
Mike
Your Name
In article <GUlp0FAf...@genesys.demon.co.uk>, "Dr. Duncan Clark"
<dun...@genesys.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <3365B0...@bcc.orst.edu>, "Bryan L. Ford"
> <fo...@bcc.orst.edu> writes
> >> I use Light Mineral Oil from SIGMA,
> >> 0.84 g/ml. Can anyone recommend any extra-light mineral oil?
>
> I saw something many moon ago in an old Biotechniques about using, I
> think, silicon oil available then from Aldrich.
>
> Duncan
> --
> The problem with being on the cutting edge is that you occasionally get
> sliced from time to time....
>
> Duncan Clark
> DNAmp Ltd.
> TEl/FAX 01252376288
> http://www.dnamp.com
> http://www.genesys.demon.co.uk
Dunc's right again.
I saw the same article and adopted silicone oil (Aldrich #14,615-3) in my
PCRs. It seems to be more hydrophobic, thus easier to aspirate without
sucking up a majority your product.
BTW now that Sigma and Aldrich have, um, merged you can probably find it
in the more ubiquitous Sigma catalog.
HTH,
Jerry
--
"If it ain't broke, it needs more features"-plagerized
J C Ford
We've been using hexadecane for our PCR, which also has the very handy
property of solidifying in an ice bath, although it's liquid at room
temperature. It costs considerably more than light mineral oil, but we aren't
doing very much PCR so that hasn't been a real factor.