Effective removal of excess Coomassie blue from polyacrylamide gels.

The destaining of Coomassie Brilliant Blue-stained polyacrylamide gels usually is time consuming and requires large volumes of destaining solution. Removal of the Coomassie blue stain from the gel can be accomplished efficiently and economically by liquid-liquid extraction using a biphasic mixture of 1-butanol and 5% aqueous acetic acid.