Why NaCl is in so many buffers? - (Jan/07/2007 )

It seems that almost every single buffer i make has NaCl in it. It seems like a very basic question, but I dont know the answer.... why?

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Because salt is a major component of all living systems. This is likely because of the prevalence of salt in the ocean. Biochemical buffers typically mimic the in vivo conditions, and these include salt.

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in addition to phage 434, some enzymes, channels, receptors, transporters etc. need the ionic strength of Na+ and Cl-; also, NaCl is cheap

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NaCl is most often used just to adjust ionic strength and/or osmolality of the buffer solutions. In some cases it may serve additional purposes as listed by earlier posters.

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