Ammonium acetate

Fixed

1.17 g · cm -3

114 ° C.

Decomposition above 90 ° C

• Very well in water (1480 g · l-1 at 20 ° C)
• Well in alcohol

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Ammonium acetate, CH3COONH4, is the ammonium salt of acetic acid. It forms colorless, smelling faintly of acetic acid crystals that are very well soluble in water and well in ethanol. In the solid state it forms a hygroscopic material which is neutral in solution.

Synthesis

Ammonium acetate can be obtained by reaction of ammonium carbonate or ammonia with glacial acetic acid.

Use

Finds the use of ammonium acetate in dyeing, in meat preservation and in the biochemical laboratory work. In the laboratory, it is used for the preparation of buffer solutions to stabilize the pH. The dissociation constants of ammonia and acetic acid in water are almost identical; Solutions of ammonium acetate are thus relatively independent of the concentration of a pH of 7.0. In microscopy, it is used in a mixture with gum arabic as a mounting medium for making permanent preparations.

In genetic engineering, DNA is sometimes precipitated by means of ammonium acetate. Is in contrast to sodium acetate as no oligonucleotides and no free dNTPs are coprecipitated, so that in this way the DNA precipitated better suited for the transfection of mammalian cells. However, it is not suitable when kinases are to be used later.

Reactions

When heated, ammonium acetate decomposes with elimination of water to acetamide.