Isoamy alcohol is routinely used in molecular biology, especially in the purification of DNA. It is widely used in conjunction with phenol and chloroform (25:24:1 phenol : chloroform : isoamyl alcohol) for the removal of proteins from the nucleic acid solutions by extraction. Isoamyl alcohol is added to the phenol solution to help inhibit RNase activity and to help prevent the solubilization in the phenol phase of long RNA molecules with long poly(A) portions. It will also help in reducing the foaming during the extraction process. Isoamyl alcohol is also used in the extraction of ethidium bromide from DNA solutions and in the radiolabeling of RNA transcripts in nuclei that have been isolated from tissue. Isoamy alcohol has various miscellaneous uses which include HPLC analysis of various pharmaceuticals and metabolites, anlysis of oxidized and reduced pyridine nucleotides and adenylates in organic phenol extracts from mitochondria, isolation of mRNA from a thermophilic cyanobacterium, Solvent for fats, resins, alkaloids, Manufacturing isoamyl (amyl) compounds, isovaleric acid, mercury fulminate, pyroxylin, artificial silk, lacquers, smokeless powders, for dehydrating celloidin solutions, for determining fat in milk etc.