E264 Preservative

Buffer

As the salt of a weak acid and a weak base, E264 is often used with acetic acid to create a buffer solution. E264 is volatile at low pressures. Because of this, it has been used to replace cell buffers with non-volatile salts in preparing samples for mass spectrometry. It is also popular as a buffer for mobile phases for HPLC with ELSD detection for this reason. Other volatile salts that have been used for this include ammonium formate.

Other

• a biodegradable de-icing agent.
• a catalyst in the Knoevenagel condensation and as a source of ammonia in the Borch reaction in organic synthesis.
• a protein precipitating reagent in dialysis to remove contaminants via diffusion.
• a reagent in agricultural chemistry for determination of soil CEC (cation exchange capacity ) and determination of available potassium in soil wherein the ammonium ion acts as a replacement cation for potassium.

Food additive

E264 is also used as a food additive as an acidity regulator; INS number 264. It is approved for usage in Australia and New Zealand.