Dithiobutylamine is a dithiol that can be synthesized from L-aspartic acid (A790021). Dithiobutylamine is a potent and versatile disulfide-reducing agent that is capable of reducing the enzyme papain, which has a relatively anionic active site, 14 times as fast as DTT (D494285) could.
Dithiobutylamine or DTBA is a new biological reducing reagent with enhanced properties over other commonly used reagents. DTBA was shown to reduce small molecule disulfides 3-5x faster than DTT and was able to reduce (activate) the cysteine dependent protease papain 14x faster than DTT. In addition, due to the presence of the primary amine group, removal of DTBA from mixtures after use is simplified and can be achieved using cation exchange resin.
