Beta-Mercaptoethnaol - David Ewing

Beta-mercaptoethanol, also known as 2-mercaptoethanol, is an interesting chemical that has many useful properties in the field of chemistry. It is a clear liquid that is often added to natural gas to give it its very distinguishable rotten egg odor [1]. This is done in order to make sure people can recognize a gas leak by the smell, as otherwise, the regularly odorless natural gas would be more difficult to detect. This is only one of the uses for beta-mercaptoethanol however. Its primary use is in laboratory experiments to aid scientists in separating proteins [2]. It helps with this process by breaking down certain bonds (disulfide bonds) that keep the protein structure folded up [2]. This then causes the proteins to stretch out, as is seen in the cool picture I drew below) and allows their concentrations to be read more easily [2]. This is a very important tool for scientists when they want to determine the amount of protein in something, and allows us to know how much protein is in different things, like our wheat.

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In a study done in the late 80s, a group of scientists led by a man named Dr. Heidrick, added beta-mercaptoethanol to the diets of mice over a two-year period [4]. The experiment’s results showed that the mice that had beta-mercaptoethanol added to their diet were less likely to get cancer, showed less signs of sickness due to aging, and were a lot healthier overall [4]! This does not mean you should add beta-mercaptoethanol to your diet however, because although it has show useful properties in long-term health of mice, it is still toxic [1]. Perhaps beta-mercaptoethanol will have more uses in the future in helping fight cancer in humans, but for now, it will continue being used in the lab and in natural gas.

References 

[1] Pubchem. (2013). National Center for Biotechnology Information.  2 Mercaptoethanol. Retrieved from punchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov 

[2] Price, P., Nairn, J. (2009). Exploring Proteins: a student’s guide to experimentalskills and methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

 [3] Ewing, D. (2013). The Process Of Unfolding A Protein Using Beta-Mercaptoethanol.

[photograph].

             [4] Heidrick, M., Hendricks, L., Cook, D. (1984). Mechanisms of Aging and Development. Effect of dietary 2-mercaptoethanol on the life span, immune system, tumor incidence and lipid peroxidation damage in spleen  lymphocytes of aging BC3F mice. Retrieved from www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0047637484900575