. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Jul 1.

Published in final edited form as: Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Cell Res. 2020 Sep 24;1868(1):118865. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamcr.2020.118865

Table 2:

Commonly used Zn²⁺ chelators

Chelator	Zn²⁺ affinity	Rate of Zn²⁺ binding or depletion	Selectivity	Application	Advantages	Disadvantages	Ref
Chelex 100	Undefined	30 minute incubation at 4°C led to 10-fold zinc depletion	Binds most transition metals and divalent cations	Removal of metals from media or serum	Simple Inexpensive Literature precedent	Non-selective Should confirm metal depletion via ICP-MS and supplement as needed	[71]
A12 resin	Low or sub-nanomolar	4 hr incubation led to >99% Zn²⁺ depletion	No detectable Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Co²⁺, or Cu²⁺ depletion from media, although S100A12 binds Ca²⁺	Selective removal of zinc from media or serum	Selective for zinc May be washed and re-used four times	Not commercially available Relatively new reagent so not a lot of examples of use	[72, 129]
TPEN	<1 fM	4.24x10⁻⁶ M⁻¹s^{−1 (Huang)} or 0.016 s^{−1 (Pan)}	Binds Ca²⁺ 10¹¹ more weakly than Zn²⁺ Binds Cu²⁺ more tightly than zinc	Chelation of zinc in cells and from some cellular proteins	Somewhat selective for zinc High affinity Literature precedent	May strip zinc from cellular proteins Cytotoxicity	[74, 77, 82]
TPA	10 pM	5.81x10⁻⁶ M⁻¹s⁻¹	Similar to TPEN: Binds Cu²⁺ more tightly than Zn²⁺, but only weakly binds Ca²⁺	Chelation of zinc in cells	Rapid Somewhat selective for zinc Lower cytotoxicity than TPEN		[74, 77]
ZX1	1.0 nM	0.027 s⁻¹	Does not show appreciable Ca²⁺ or Mg²⁺ binding	Rapid chelation of extracellular zinc	Rapid Selective for zinc	Relatively new reagent so not a lot of examples of use	[82]