The BIURET reagent is a special solution mainly used for the quantitative determination of protein in samples. In addition, it can also be used for the detection of soluble peptides and urea. Its application is in various scientific fields, including histology, medical diagnostics and life sciences.

The solution is particularly suitable for measuring protein amounts, peptides and urea, as it provides a simple, fast and reliable method. In particular, it is used in clinical chemistry for the determination of total protein in serum or plasma, but also in food analysis and in the context of experiments in molecular biology.

The chemical properties of the BIURET reagent are based on the formation of a colored complex in the presence of proteins, peptides and urea. The main components are potassium sodium tartrate tetrahydrate, copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate, potassium iodide and sodium hydroxide dissolved in water. This forms an alkaline solution in which the copper(II) ion is available to react with these substances.

The operation of the BIURET reagent is based on the reaction between copper(II) ions and peptide bonds of proteins, peptides and urea, resulting in a purple color complex. The intensity of the color is proportional to the amount of protein, peptides or urea in the sample, which allows quantitative determination. The color intensity is usually measured by spectrophotometric methods, which allow accurate and reproducible analysis.