Nucleic Acid Precipitation and Cleanup: 0.1M Sodium Acetate, pH 3.5, is used to precipitate and concentrate DNA from aqueous solutions (e.g., plasmid preps from Escherichia coli) with ethanol or isopropanol.

Selective DNA Precipitation: Employed at acidic pH to preferentially precipitate DNA over RNA during sample cleanup.

Phenol–Chloroform Extraction Workflow: Added to adjust salt and pH prior to alcohol precipitation of DNA.

Cation Exchange Chromatography: Serves as a low-pH acetate buffer for protein binding, washing, or elution on cation exchangers.

Acidic Enzyme Assays: Provides a stable pH 3.5 environment for enzymes requiring acetate buffer in the acidic range.

Buffer Exchange and Dialysis: Used to shift samples into a defined low-pH acetate buffer prior to downstream processing.

HPLC (UV Detection): Utilized as an aqueous buffer component at low pH for certain separations where nonvolatile salts are acceptable.