The A1801-HR is Benchmark Agarose HR, a high-resolution PCR-grade specialty agarose in the A1800 family, sold at $388 / 100 g for sequencing-prep, cloning-prep, and DNA-recovery workflows where the agarose must produce sharp, well-resolved bands AND support clean DNA recovery from gel slices for downstream enzymatic reactions. The HR / PCR-grade designation signals low contamination by PCR-inhibiting impurities that standard LE-grade agaroses can carry over into recovered DNA.
Author confidence note (MEDIUM): Brochure exists in corpus as image-only PDF (no text layer extractable). Specs sourced from universe label. Confirm exact PCR-inhibitor specification, gel-strength, and DNA-recovery yield characteristics with Benchmark Scientific technical support at first procurement.
Key Specifications
| SKU | A1801-HR |
| Type | Specialty high-resolution PCR-grade agarose |
| Pack size | 100 g |
| Per-gram cost | $3.88/g |
| Workflow position | Cloning-prep / sequencing-prep / DNA-recovery from gel slices |
| Key differentiator | Low PCR-inhibitor contamination (supports clean downstream PCR / sequencing on recovered DNA) |
| Sister specialty SKUs | A1801-31 (3:1 high-resolution, $360), A1801-LM (low-melt, $449) |
| Sister LE family | A1700 / A1701 / A1705: standard molecular biology grade ($1.13–$2.68/g) |
| List price | $388 |
Why an HR PCR-Grade Specialty Agarose: Cloning-Prep / Sequencing-Prep Workflows
Standard LE agarose (A1700 family) is excellent for general-purpose electrophoresis but carries trace PCR inhibitors that survive standard gel-extraction protocols and can inhibit downstream enzymatic reactions, restriction digestion, ligation, PCR amplification, sequencing-prep enzymatic steps. The HR / PCR-grade specialty agarose is manufactured to a tighter PCR-inhibitor specification so that DNA recovered from HR gels supports clean downstream enzymatic chemistry without the troubleshooting overhead that standard-LE-recovered DNA can introduce.
Pick the HR PCR-grade (A1801-HR) when:
- Workflow involves DNA recovery from gel slices for downstream cloning, ligation, restriction digestion
- Sequencing-prep workflows (Sanger or NGS library prep) requiring high-purity DNA recovery
- PCR-from-gel-extraction workflows where downstream amplification efficiency matters
- Molecular cloning pipelines where gel-extracted DNA goes into ligation reactions
- Standard LE agarose has produced inconsistent downstream enzymatic results on recovered DNA
Pick A1801-LM instead when intact long-DNA recovery is the workflow priority (low-melt enables enzymatic gel-melt vs cut-and-spin extraction).
Pick A1801-31 for high-resolution small-fragment separation without the cloning-prep specification.
Pick A1700 LE family for standard electrophoresis at $1.13–$2.68/g where downstream-enzymatic-purity is not the priority.
Specialty Agarose Family: A1801 Comparison
| SKU | Specialty type | Optimized for | List price | Per-g cost |
| A1801-31 | 3:1 high-resolution blend | Small-fragment separation (100 bp – 1 kb) | $360 / 100 g | $3.60/g |
| A1801-HR (this product) | HR PCR-grade | Cloning-prep / sequencing-prep DNA recovery | $388 / 100 g | $3.88/g |
| A1801-LM | Low-melt | Intact-DNA recovery from gel slices via enzymatic gel-melt | $449 / 100 g | $4.49/g |
Application Profile
Cloning-prep gel extraction. Vector / insert separation, gel extraction, ligation pipelines where downstream ligation efficiency depends on PCR-inhibitor-free DNA recovery.
NGS library-prep workflows. Fragment-size selection by gel extraction in NGS library prep where downstream PCR enrichment requires PCR-inhibitor-free recovered DNA.
Sanger sequencing-prep. Gel extraction of PCR products for Sanger sequencing where contaminating PCR inhibitors would compromise sequencing chemistry.
Restriction-digest / sub-cloning workflows. Gel-extracted restriction fragments going into sub-cloning reactions.
Multi-step molecular cloning pipelines. Workflows where multiple sequential enzymatic steps follow gel extraction (restriction digestion → ligation → transformation → mini-prep verification).
Method-development workflows. Protocol-development comparing standard LE vs HR PCR-grade for downstream-enzymatic-step troubleshooting.
Ordering & Configuration
Pair with electrophoresis chassis and gel-extraction kit. Confirm gel-extraction kit inventory at order (the HR agarose is workflow-incomplete without a gel-extraction protocol).
Pair with appropriate downstream enzymatic reagents. Restriction enzymes, T4 ligase, PCR master mix per cloning workflow (Accuris PR1001 family pairing for downstream PCR is standard).
Confirm at quote: workflow downstream-enzymatic-step justification, gel-extraction kit pairing, cloning / sequencing pipeline plan, and lead time.
Warranty: Per Benchmark Scientific standard reagent terms.
Specialty agarose selection:
- A1801-31, 3:1 high-resolution blend, small-fragment separation
- A1801-HR (this product): HR PCR-grade, cloning-prep / sequencing-prep DNA recovery
- A1801-LM, Low-melt, intact-DNA gel-slice recovery via enzymatic gel-melt
Pick the HR PCR-grade for cloning-prep and sequencing-prep workflows requiring clean downstream enzymatic chemistry; sister specialties cover small-fragment-resolution and intact-DNA-recovery workflows; standard LE family covers general-purpose electrophoresis at lower per-gram cost.
