Title:  X-gal 
CAS Registry Number:  7240-90-6 
CAS Name:  5-Bromo-4-chloro-1H-indol-3-yl b-D-galactopyranoside 
Molecular Formula:  C14H15BrClNO6 
Molecular Weight:  408.63 
Percent Composition:  C 41.15%, H 3.70%, Br 19.55%, Cl 8.68%, N 3.43%, O 23.49% 
Literature References:  Chromogenic substrate of the lacZ gene product, b-galactosidase; produces a rich blue color when cleaved by the enzyme.  Prepn:  J. P. Horwitz et al., J. Med. Chem. 7, 574 (1964).  Colorimetric reaction in tissue to localize b-galactosidase:  B. Pearson et al., Lab. Invest. 12, 1249 (1963); Z. Lojda, Histochemie 23, 266 (1970).  Protocol for blue-white a-complementation screening:  J. Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning:  A Laboratory Manual (Cold Spring Harbor, New York, 2nd ed., 1989) pp 1.7-1.9, 1.85-1.87.  Optimization of detection of exogenous bacterial lacZ expression:  D. J. Weiss et al., Hum. Gene Ther. 8, 1545 (1997); of fixative conditions in X-gal staining:  W. Ma et al., J. Histochem. Cytochem. 50, 1421 (2002); of blue-white screening procedure:  A. L. Sherwood, BioTechniques 34, 644 (2003). 
Properties:  Amorphous solid from methanol, mp 237-239° (dec).  [a]D24 -69° (c =  1.0 in 50% DMF).  Sol in DMF, DMSO. 
Melting point:  mp 237-239° (dec) 
Optical Rotation:  [a]D24 -69° (c =  1.0 in 50% DMF) 
Use:  In histochemical staining, in blue-white selection of bacterial colonies with lacZ gene activity during cloning experiments.   |