Cleavable detergents, also known as cleavable surfactants, are special surfactants (detergents) that are used in biochemistry and especially in proteomics to enhance protein denaturation and solubility. The detergent is rendered inactive by cleavage, usually under acidic conditions, in order to make the sample compatible with a following procedure or in order to selectively remove the cleavage products.
Applications for cleavable detergents include protease digestion of proteins such as in-gel digestion with trypsin after SDS PAGE and peptide extractions from electrophoresis gels. Cleavable detergents are mainly used in sample preparations for mass spectrometry.