Zwitterionic Detergents

Zwitterionic detergents protect the native state of proteins without altering the native charge of the protein molecules. Zwitterionic detergents are used for isoelectric focusing and 2D electrophoresis. Synthetic zwitterionic detergents are known as sulfobetaines. Sulfobetaines retain their zwitterionic characteristics over a wide range of pH. The following zwitterionic detergents are the most efficient and widely used for 2D gel electrophoresis.