Nanodrop 1000
Location: U3202 MRB3
The Nanodrop is a UV/Vis spectrophotomer with a variety of preset applications. It can measure aqueous nucleic acid samples reproducibly with a 1 μl samples size and other samples with only 2 μl. The linear range is quite broad – minimum absorbance of 2 ng/μl and maximum of 3700 ng/μl for nucleic acid. Contact the equipment manager for training.
Solvent Compatibility
The Nanodrop 1000C manual says the following on page 19-3: The Nanodrop 1000C Spectrophotometer is compatible with most solvents typically used in life science laboratories. These include: methanol, ethanol, n-propanol, isopropanol, butanol, acetone, ether, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, DMSO, DMF, Acentronitrile, THF, toluene, hexane, benzene, sodium hydroxide, sodium hypochlorite (bleach), dilute HCl, dilute HNO3, dilute acetic acid.
ALL FORMS OF HYDROFLUORIC ACID (HF) ARE INCOMPATIBLE, AS THE FLUORIDE ION WILL DISSOLVE THE QUARTZ FIBER OPTIC CABLE.
Helpful Hints (from Thermo)
- Ensure samples are homogeneous
The samples are small, so it is easy to inadvertently get a non-representative sample for quantitation. There is a vortexer in the equipment room, use it to ensure the your sample is truly in solution (especially nucleic acid).
- Use the appropriate buffer to make “Blank” solution
It pains me this even has to be said.
- Use adequate sample size
Use a calibrated 2 μl pipettor for sample loading – the larger the pipettor the larger the relative error margin. Volatiles and detergents can sometimes cause problems forming a column and a larger sample volume can help.
- Use fresh aliquots for each measurement
Evaporation can cause a concentration error with the small volume.