Guanidinium thiocyanate
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| Guanidinium thiocyanate | |
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| CAS number | [593-84-0] |
| Except where noted otherwise, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C, 100 kPa) Infobox disclaimer and references |
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Guanidinium thiocyanate is a chemical compound that can be used to deactivate a virus, such as the influenza virus that caused the 1918 "Spanish flu" so that it can be studied safely. Note: this compound may also be recognized as guanidine thiocyanate. This is because guanidinium is the conjugate acid of guanidine and is called the guanidinium cation, [CH6N3]+.
As a chaotropic agent, it is also used as a general protein denaturant, which is presumably the mechanism for its aforementioned application in humans.
Guanidinium thiocyanate is also used to lyse cells and virus particles in RNA and DNA extractions. A commonly used method is Guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction.
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