Question about handling of a chemical (MEA/cystemaine)

[lechristophe]

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Hi,

I'm using MEA/cysteamine as a reducing agent in a STORM (super resolution)
buffer. As I understand, it is quite sensitive to water and humidity. I
have stored the powder bottle at -20°C when I received it, then brought it
back to RT, aliquoted it in small amount of powder (60-100 mg) in 1.5 mL
Eppedorf as stated in the protocol I'm following. However this protocol
asks to dessicate the powder aliquots before putting them back to -20°C. As
I didn't know how to proceed, I stored them back to -20°C without
dessicating them.
So a question for the chemists here: is the dessication part really useful
if the product is stored in a freezer? If so, is it a good idea to
dessicate them now, ie to have them do another -20°C / RT /-20°C cycle in
order to dry them?

Thanks for your advices,

Christophe

--
Christophe Leterrier
Researcher
Axonal Domains Architecture Team
CRN2M CNRS UMR 7286
Aix Marseille University, France

[Craig Brideau]

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The easiest way to get the water out is to put it in a vacuum bell with a
cup of Dryerite next to it.

Craig
On 2013-06-11 5:37 AM, "Christophe Leterrier" <
[hidden email]> wrote:

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> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> *****
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm using MEA/cysteamine as a reducing agent in a STORM (super resolution)
> buffer. As I understand, it is quite sensitive to water and humidity. I
> have stored the powder bottle at -20°C when I received it, then brought it
> back to RT, aliquoted it in small amount of powder (60-100 mg) in 1.5 mL
> Eppedorf as stated in the protocol I'm following. However this protocol
> asks to dessicate the powder aliquots before putting them back to -20°C. As
> I didn't know how to proceed, I stored them back to -20°C without
> dessicating them.
> So a question for the chemists here: is the dessication part really useful
> if the product is stored in a freezer? If so, is it a good idea to
> dessicate them now, ie to have them do another -20°C / RT /-20°C cycle in
> order to dry them?
>
> Thanks for your advices,
>
> Christophe
>
> --
> Christophe Leterrier
> Researcher
> Axonal Domains Architecture Team
> CRN2M CNRS UMR 7286
> Aix Marseille University, France
>

[David Baddeley]

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MEA is a right p.i.t.a. - we've tried filling the stock vial with argon and putting this inside a second sealed container with a desiccant and still had it turn to slush. Best results so far have been to make very concentrated (~1M) stock solutions and aliquot and freeze those, although that's still far from perfect. Some form of dessication of the aliquoted powder would probably have been useful but I would personally not pull them back out of the freezer to do it.

cheers,
David


________________________________
 From: Christophe Leterrier <[hidden email]>
To: [hidden email]
Sent: Tuesday, 11 June 2013 6:24 AM
Subject: Question about handling of a chemical (MEA/cystemaine)
 

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Hi,

I'm using MEA/cysteamine as a reducing agent in a STORM (super resolution)
buffer. As I understand, it is quite sensitive to water and humidity. I
have stored the powder bottle at -20°C when I received it, then brought it
back to RT, aliquoted it in small amount of powder (60-100 mg) in 1.5 mL
Eppedorf as stated in the protocol I'm following. However this protocol
asks to dessicate the powder aliquots before putting them back to -20°C. As
I didn't know how to proceed, I stored them back to -20°C without
dessicating them.
So a question for the chemists here: is the dessication part really useful
if the product is stored in a freezer? If so, is it a good idea to
dessicate them now, ie to have them do another -20°C / RT /-20°C cycle in
order to dry them?

Thanks for your advices,

Christophe

--
Christophe Leterrier
Researcher
Axonal Domains Architecture Team
CRN2M CNRS UMR 7286
Aix Marseille University, France