Colorimetric quantitation of trace amounts of sodium lauryl sulfate in the presence of nucleic acids and proteins.

A fast and sensitive procedure for the colorimetric detection of sodium lauryl sulfate (SDS) is presented. The assay is based upon the formation of a chloroform-extractable ion pair between lauryl sulfate and methylene blue that is quantified spectrophotometrically with an estimated detection limit of 150 ng of SDS. The method is suitable for the monitoring of contaminating traces of SDS in protein or nucleic acid samples that have the potential to interfere with enzymatic manipulations such as proteolytic digest, restriction analysis, or reverse transcription. Since the procedure is extremely simple and no special equipment is required it is accessible to every researcher concerned with SDS contamination.