By Gary Thomas
TOKU-E, a company specializing in the production of fine chemicals and ultra-pure antimicrobials for application in life science research, is now offering its newly developed dust-free grade (DF) sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). This safer and faster dissolving compound is developed for research and manufacturing uses.
While performing research on animals, continuous exposure to SDS dust particles results in skin and eye irritation. Inhalation of SDS dust particles can cause symptoms like shortness of breath, chest tightness, coughing and wheezing. The dust-free SDS from TOKU-E eliminates this problem and another important advantage of the material is that it gets dissolved more rapidly in water when compared to traditional SDS materials. The density of traditional SDS varies between 0.6 g/cm3 and 0.7 g/cm3, whereas TOKU-E’s dust-free grade SDS powders are packed to a density of 0.9 g/cm3. This ensures the decrease of free-floating particles. In addition, the product saves time while preparing a stock solution by increasing dissolve times. Tests have revealed that the use of compactly packed dust-free grade product can reduce the dissolve times by nearly 50%.
About five years ago, the company received a batch of SDS with poor quality from one of its suppliers, stated Amy Lee, Director of R&D at TOKU-E. Hence, TOKU-E’s R&D team worked on the product and after three years of study, they discovered that the control of bacterial contaminations, water quality and few other factors are critical for producing high quality SDS. After comprehensive analysis, their team has ensured that dust-free grade SDS offers enhanced safety in the laboratory and also leads to highly consistent lab results, added Lee. Each batch of dust-free SDS product is tested after production to ensure that it meets the required physical specifications, including appearance, solubility, density and purity.
Source: http://www.toku-e.com/