Jun 13, 2025

Public workspaceNeutralising Acrylic Acid to make Sodium Acrylate

DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.6qpvrkd12lmk/v1
  • Felix Mikus1
  • 1UNIGE
Felix Mikus
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DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.6qpvrkd12lmk/v1
Protocol Citation: Felix Mikus 2025. Neutralising Acrylic Acid to make Sodium Acrylate. protocols.io https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.6qpvrkd12lmk/v1
License: This is an open access protocol distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License,  which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Protocol status: Working
We use this protocol and it's working
Created: April 15, 2025
Last Modified: June 13, 2025
Protocol Integer ID: 126710
Keywords: sodium acrylate, neutralising acrylic acid, sodium acrylate this protocol, acrylic acid, expansion microscopy
Funders Acknowledgements:
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Abstract
This protocol outlines the steps required to make sodium acrylate (SA) at 4M/38% for use in expansion microscopy. Making it in house avoids the problems arising from batch to batch variability that has haunted commercially available SA as well as long delivery times. It is also significantly cheaper and does not require significantly more time.
Materials
ReagentSodium hydroxideMerck MilliporeSigma (Sigma-Aldrich)Catalog #S8045 ReagentAcrylic acid anhydrousMerck MilliporeSigma (Sigma-Aldrich)Catalog #147230
Stirring plate
Magnetic stirrer
Ice bucket
Beaker
Fume hood
Troubleshooting
Safety warnings
Both Acrylic acid and NaOH are corrosive and harmful. Toxic fumes are produced during the neutralisation. Handle under a fume hood with appropriate PPE.
Neutralisation can be exothermal, be cautious of excessive heat production.
Note: I have not had issues with excessive heat production and the acrylic acid solidifies on ice, reducing stirring. I work on RT but keep ice close-by.
Neutralisation
Into a beaker add a stir bar and Amount12.5 mL Acrylic acid
Note
The stock is at ˜Concentration13.87 Molarity (M)




Toxic

Note
Either work TemperatureOn ice or keep an ice bucket close by to prevent overheating of the solution. Overheated sodium acrylate will not be useable for expansion microscopy.

Slowly add Concentration10 Molarity (M) NaOH (total roughly Amount17.5 mL )

Toxic
Temperature
Add small volumes of water when the solution becomes too thick, the salt precipitates out and will stick to the
Optional
Once at pH Ph6.8 carefully continue with Concentration1 Molarity (M) NaOH until at Ph7.5 - Ph8.0

Toxic
Temperature
Add water to a total volume of Amount42.91 mL

Storage
Store resulting sodium acrylate [Concentration4 Molarity (M) /Concentration38 % volume ] at Temperature-20 °C for several month. Aliquot to avoid freeze cycles and streamline downstream processes.

Protocol references
Acknowledgements
Pedro Matos Pereira for initially sharing the protocol!