Hiya all, as a newbie here, allow me to greet u all. Hellooooo!!! I have a question which trouble me quite a long time. Why ethanol 70% is always used as disinfectant and not 95% o any other %? Can anyone help me in this question? Coz every manual i search so far just say 70% without any explaination.
-Dodo-
because you need also water to denature the proteins, enough water but not too much, not to dilute ethanol. That's why 70% is the best concentration to use, and it is better than 90%.
-Missele-
also 95% ethanol evaporates very quickly at room temp, thus 70% is more effective
-grapes of wrath-
It also saves your ethanol
ha ha ha........
-Rawat-
95% will only dry bacteria.. smile.gif
-Jusu-
It depends on what you are using it for...
If you are using it for cleaning benched etc, then the 70% is so that there is a dehydration effect on the bacteria, thus killing the bacteria.
70% in DNA preps, for example, is used to keep the DNA as a precipitate, but still allow most of the proteins and salts to go into solution, so that the DNA is clean at the end.
-bob1-
This topic is previously discuss in another thread. Check this
-Minnie Mouse-
Oh ic thanks for d informations, it has been a great help in my understanding smile.gif
-Dodo-
Hi newbie.... 70% ethanol is very commonly used as a disinfectant in labs.. 70% is enough to kill bacteria or other comtaminants on the workbench...... Ethanol is also flammable so..the concentration % should not be so high... Bleach also can be used but still the common one is 70% ethanol.
-Gomes Nicholas-
95% EtOH can denature the protein outside the bacteria only and can not kill them,
but 70% EtOH will permeate into bacteria, kill them furtherly. that is my opinion which i hope will give you some clue.
-leolee2046-