Nucleic Acid Precipitation: 3M Sodium Acetate (pH 5.2) is added to ethanol or isopropanol precipitations to recover DNA and RNA from aqueous solutions.

Plasmid DNA Cleanup: Enhances precipitation and purification of plasmid DNA from E. coli lysates during miniprep and maxiprep workflows.

Gel Extraction and Fragment Recovery: Used after agarose gel excision to salt and precipitate DNA fragments for downstream cloning or sequencing.

Enzyme Assays at Acidic pH: Provides stable buffering at pH 5.2 for enzymes with acidic optima (e.g., glycosidases and acid hydrolases).

Protein Purification: Serves as a buffering component for cation exchange chromatography at acidic pH to control protein binding and elution.

General Buffering: Maintains pH 5.2 in biochemical reactions and sample storage where acetate buffer is required.