Cyanate is an undesirable byproduct of urea-containing buffers which can cause carbamylation reactions adversely affecting protein stability, efficiency, and function
Newly released Dionex Application Note 200: 'Direct determination of cyanate in a urea solution and a urea-containing protein buffer' demonstrates improved selectivity and sensitivity for cyanate determination in protein buffers and similar matrices over previously developed methods.
This application is particularly important for the pharmaceutical industry and companies involved in purifying proteins for therapeutic applications.
Ion chromatography is ideally suited for determination of cyanate, as it is readily detected using suppressed conductivity.
High-resolution anion-exchange separation prevents interference from other ionic compounds.
Application Note 200 improves upon previously developed methods by using the hydroxide-selective IonPac AS15 column which offers improved sensitivity and higher capacity, allowing detection limits of 0.25uM cyanate in solutions up to 20,000x higher in ionic strength.
