Potassium Phosphate, Dibasic, Anhydrous

Potassium Phosphate, Dibasic, Anhydrous (K2HPO4) is a reagent with a very high buffering capacity. Widely used in molecular biology, biochemistry, and chromatography. Potassium phosphate occurs in several forms: monobasic (KH2PO4), dibasic (K2HPO4), and tribasic (K3PO4). Neutral potassium phosphate buffer solutions may be prepared with a mixture of the monobasic and dibasic forms to varying degrees, depending on the desired pH. Potassium Phosphate buffers are very useful in numerous applications, but with the following limitations: precipitation of Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺, inhibition of restriction enzyme activity, and interference in DNA ligation or bacterial transformation protocols. Has been used to study the effects of freezing and thawing on the stability of proteins sensitive to conformational changes; it was found that KP buffers offered improved pH stability as opposed to NaP buffers. Potassium Phosphate has also been used for the extraction of keratohyalin protein from bovine tissue.