I have a certificate reporting 99.2% purity and 6.1mg content on a vial sold as 5mg, and I cannot work out whether those two numbers are consistent or contradictory.
The question I want answered is why two laboratories report different purity for the same batch, and which number to believe.
Tell me what I have not thought of.
This one has a reasonably settled answer, so here it is. Inter-laboratory variation comes from real methodological differences, not sloppiness: which reference standard was used and how it was itself calibrated, the gradient and column, the detection wavelength, and where the integration baseline was drawn. A percentage point or two between competent labs is expected. What is not expected is a large gap, and the usual explanation there is that one report is not of the batch in your hand.
If somebody has the primary source to hand I would rather cite it than paraphrase it.
PharmacoVig_BOS said:Inter-laboratory variation comes from real methodological differences, not sloppiness: which reference standard was used and how it was itself…
Agreed, and mass spec answers a question purity does not: identity. High purity tells you one thing dominates the chromatogram, not that it is the molecule you ordered. A mass within about a dalton of expected is the identity check.
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Shop Reference Standardsjennifer_SEA said:I have a certificate reporting 99.2% purity and 6.1mg content on a vial sold as 5mg, and I cannot work out whether those two numbers are consistent or…
Same position here, arrived at the long way round. They are not contradictory, they measure different things, and this is the single most common misreading of a certificate. Purity is a relative area measurement: the main peak as a percentage of total peak area in the chromatogram. Content is an absolute mass measurement against a reference standard. A vial can be 99% pure and contain 6.1mg — pure material, overfilled — or 99% pure and contain 3mg, which is pure material and a short fill. Purity tells you what fraction of what is there is the right molecule; content tells you how much of it there is. You need both, and a certificate with only purity is telling you half the story.
From the other side of the consultation, briefly.
Third-party testing services for certificates of analysis besides Janoshik:
- Janoshik: Gold standard for peptide community, ~$150, 10-14 day turnaround
- Valitech: US-based, ISO 17025 accredited, ~$210
- Eurofins: Full pharmaceutical testing suite, more expensive but comprehensive
- ChemTox: Basic identity and purity testing, ~$120
Janoshik is the community standard but any ISO-accredited analytical lab can verify peptide identity and purity. The key is independence — don't rely solely on the vendor's own testing.