Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS), also known as Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS), is an anionic surfactant consisting of a 12-carbon tail attached to a sulfate group, giving it amphiphilic properties. This means that it has both hydrophobic and hydrophilic parts, which enables the formation of micelles in solution capable of solubilizing hydrophobic targets in many molecular biology applications including nucleic acids extraction and protein electrophoresis.