Updated 2026-09-01
How to use this page
Each entry below is a definition as this site uses the word. Where a term has a wider meaning in chemistry or logistics, the entry states the meaning that matters to a buyer raising an order here. Terms link to the page where they do their work: the pricing terms to the pricing page, the document terms to the quality page and COA requests, the order terms to how to order.
25 terms
- Certificate of analysis (COA)
- The laboratory report for one specific lot: compound name, lot number, identity result by mass spectrometry, purity result by HPLC, appearance, endotoxin result and test date. Available on request for any lot on this catalog through COA requests.
- Safety data sheet (SDS)
- The sixteen-section hazard-communication sheet for a chemical, covering its composition and its handling, storage, transport and disposal. Available on request the same way a COA is.
- Lot
- One production batch of a compound, lyophilized and tested together and identified by a single lot number that appears on every vial from it and on its certificate of analysis.
- Lot traceability
- The ability to match a vial on your dock to the certificate written for the batch it came from, by the lot number printed on both.
- HPLC purity
- The share of a tested lot that eluted as the main peak in high-performance liquid chromatography; a past-tense figure about one lot, recorded on its certificate, and not a statement about any other lot.
- Mass spectrometry identity
- The confirmation, recorded on the certificate, that the measured molecular mass of the lot matches the compound named on the label.
- Endotoxin
- Bacterial cell-wall material that can be present in any biologically sourced or handled reagent; the certificate records the result of the lot's endotoxin test.
- Lyophilized
- Freeze-dried: frozen in solution and dried under vacuum so that a dry cake remains in the vial. The peptide lines on this catalog are supplied lyophilized; a few small-molecule lines are weighed in as powder.
- Cake
- The dry, intact disc of lyophilized material at the base of a sealed vial. A collapsed, shrunken or displaced cake is the first visual sign that a vial or its seal has been compromised; a thin film at a small fill of a short peptide is normal, and each product page describes its own line.
- Fill weight
- The mass of compound in one vial, stated in milligrams. A compound offered at several fill weights is several lines on the order list, each priced and tiered on its own.
- Kit
- Ten vials of a single compound at a single fill weight — the unit the order list counts in. Quantities on this site step by the kit.
- Order minimum
- One hundred vials, ten kits, reached by the order as a whole in any mix of compounds and fill weights.
- Tier
- One of the three published per-vial prices for a line, reached at 100 vials of that line, then at 1,000, then at 2,500. A line reaches its tier on its own quantity; lines do not pool. See the pricing page.
- Tier boundary rule
- The guarantee that a smaller order is never dearer than a larger one: if 999 vials of a line would cost more than 1,000, the 1,000-vial price is quoted.
- Contract pricing
- The per-vial figure quoted directly, outside the published sheet, for orders past 10,000 vials of one compound.
- Written quote
- The email that restates every line, fill weight, quantity, tier and figure of an order request, with freight and a ship date, before any payment is arranged. See reading a wholesale quote.
- Research use only (RUO)
- The status of every product on this catalog: supplied as a reagent for laboratory research only, not a drug, food, cosmetic or supplement, not FDA-approved for any use, and not for human or veterinary use. See the compliance page.
- Eligibility attestation
- The confirmation captured with every order at submission: the buyer is a business or research organization, and the material is not destined for human or veterinary use, resale or supply toward that use included.
- Cold chain
- The practice of keeping temperature-sensitive material within its storage range from the shelf to your dock, including the packing used in transit.
- Headspace
- The space above the material inside a sealed vial, between the cake and the stopper.
- Crimp seal
- The aluminium collar pressed over the vial's stopper. An intact crimp is the second visual check, after the cake, that a vial arrived as sealed.
- Aliquot
- A measured portion of a dissolved lot divided into a separate container so the rest is not repeatedly opened, warmed or refrozen.
- Freeze-thaw
- One round of freezing a solution and thawing it. Repeated freeze-thaw cycles are the most common cause of degradation in dissolved material, which is why aliquoting is standard laboratory practice.
- CAS number
- The Chemical Abstracts Service registry number that identifies a substance uniquely regardless of the name a supplier gives it. Shown on every product page that has one.
- PubChem CID
- The identifier for a compound in the PubChem database, linked from each product page so the structure, formula and molecular weight can be checked against an independent source.