Lithium acetate

Lithium acetate

Identifiers
CAS Number	546-89-4
ChEBI	CHEBI:CHEBI:63045
ChemSpider	10562
EC Number	208-914-3
Jmol interactive 3D	Image
KEGG	D08134
MeSH	C488804
PubChem	11028
RTECS number	AI545000
InChI InChI=1S/C2H4O2.Li/c1-2(3)4;/h1H3,(H,3,4);/q;+1/p-1 Key: XIXADJRWDQXREU-UHFFFAOYSA-M InChI=1/C2H4O2.Li/c1-2(3)4;/h1H3,(H,3,4);/q;+1/p-1 Key: XIXADJRWDQXREU-REWHXWOFAX
SMILES [Li+].CC(=O)[O-]
Properties
Chemical formula	C2H3LiO2
Molar mass	65.98 g·mol^−1
Appearance	crystal
Density	1.26 g/cm^3
Melting point	286 °C (547 °F; 559 K)
Solubility in water	45.0 g/100 mL[1]
Hazards
Safety data sheet	External MSDS
Lethal dose or concentration (LD, LC):
LD50 (Median dose)	500 mg/kg (oral, mouse)
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
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Infobox references

Lithium acetate (CH₃COOLi) is a salt of lithium and acetic acid.

Uses

Lithium acetate is used in the laboratory as buffer for gel electrophoresis of DNA and RNA. It has a lower electrical conductivity and can be run at higher speeds than can gels made from TAE buffer (5-30V/cm as compared to 5-10V/cm). At a given voltage, the heat generation and thus the gel temperature is much lower than with TAE buffers, therefore the voltage can be increased to speed up electrophoresis so that a gel run takes only a fraction of the usual time. Downstream applications, such as isolation of DNA from a gel slice or Southern blot analysis, work as expected when using lithium acetate gels.

Lithium boric acid or sodium boric acid are usually preferable to lithium acetate or TAE when analyzing smaller fragments of DNA (less than 500 bp) due to the higher resolution of borate-based buffers in this size range as compared to acetate buffers.

Lithium acetate is also used to permeabilize the cell wall of yeast for use in DNA transformation. It is believed that the beneficial effect of LiOAc is caused by its chaotropic effect; denaturing DNA, RNA and proteins.^[2]

References

1. Lide, David R. (1998). Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (87 ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. p. 465. ISBN 0-8493-0594-2.
2. Norcum, MT (Aug 15, 1991). "Structural analysis of the high molecular mass aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase complex. Effects of neutral salts and detergents.". The Journal of Biological Chemistry 266 (23): 15398–405. PMID 1651330.

• Brody, JR; Kern, SE (2004). "History and principles of conductive media for standard DNA electrophoresis.". Analytical Biochemistry 333 (1): 1–13. doi:10.1016/j.ab.2004.05.054. PMID 15351274.

Salts and the ester of the Acetate ion
AcOH																	He
LiOAc	Be(OAc)2 BeAcOH											B(OAc)3	ROAc	NH4OAc	AcOAc	FAc	Ne
NaOAc	Mg(OAc)2											Al(OAc)3 ALSOL Al(OAc)2OH	Si	P	S	ClAc	Ar
KOAc	Ca(OAc)2	Sc(OAc)3	Ti(OAc)4	VO(OAc)3	Cr(OAc)2	Mn(OAc)2 MnAc3	Fe(OAc)2 FeAc3	Co(OAc)2, CoAc3	Ni(OAc)2	Cu(OAc)2	Zn(OAc)2	Ga(OAc)3	Ge	As	Se	BrAc	Kr
RbOAc	Sr(OAc)2	Y(OAc)3	Zr(OAc)4	Nb	Mo(OAc)2	Tc	Ru	Rh	Pd(OAc)2	AgOAc	Cd(OAc)2	In	Sn(OAc)2 SnAc4	Sb(OAc)3	Te	IAc	Xe
CsOAc	Ba(OAc)2		Hf	Ta	W	Re	Os	Ir	Pt(OAc)2	Au	Hg2(OAc)2, HgAc2	TlOAc Tl(OAc)3	Pb(OAc)2 Pb(OAc)4	Bi(OAc)3	Po	At	Rn
Fr	Ra		Rf	Db	Sg	Bh	Hs	Mt	Ds	Rg	Cn	Uut	Fl	Uup	Lv	Uus	Uuo
		↓
		La(OAc)3	Ce(OAc)x	Pr	Nd	Pm	Sm(OAc)3	Eu(OAc)3	Gd(OAc)3	Tb	Dy(OAc)3	Ho(OAc)3	Er	Tm	Yb(OAc)3	Lu(OAc)3
		Ac	Th	Pa	UO2(OAc)2	Np	Pu	Am	Cm	Bk	Cf	Es	Fm	Md	No	Lr