Cross-linking agents contain at least two reactive groups that are reactive towards numerous groups, including sulfhydryls, amines and carbohydrates, and create chemical covalent bonds between two or more molecules.  functional groups that can be targeted with cross-linking agents are primary amines, carboxyls, sulfhydryls,  carbohydrates and carboxylic acids. Protein molecules have many of these functional groups and therefore proteins and peptides can be readily conjugated using cross-linking agents. Cross-linking agents are used to study protein structure and function, to anchor proteins to solid  supports, preparation of immunogens, immunotoxins, and other conjugated protein reagents. Astral Scientific offers a variety of Double Do™ cross-linking agents, reaction specific buffers, and accessories for performing and facilitating crosslinking applications. These accessory tools simplify cross-linking reactions and will enable researchers to achieve highly efficient cross-linking reactions with minimal effort in reaction optimization, set-up, and procedure development

We also offer a variety of amino acid side chain modifiers to block side chain interactions, change the charge or modify them to be more favourable for other reactions. Many denaturants, or chaotropes, are available and can disrupt water interactions resulting in the solubilization of hydrophobic proteins and peptides. Chaotropes act on proteins to unfold them and alter their three-dimensional structure.