Quality & provenance

With research peptides it is not only the substance itself but above all its provenance and quality control that determine what is actually in a vial. This page explains which documents and methods the field uses to demonstrate quality — and what those documents do and do not prove.

What is a COA?

A Certificate of Analysis, or COA, is an analytical report belonging to one specific batch of a substance. A serious COA states, among other things:

• the name and batch number of the substance, so the report demonstrably belongs to that batch;
• the measured purity, usually as a percentage;
• the analytical methods used;
• the date of analysis and ideally the laboratory that performed it.

An important caveat: a COA is worth only as much as the independence and reliability of the laboratory that issued it. A certificate without a batch number, method, date or traceable laboratory is little more than a good-looking document. And a COA belonging to a different batch than the material in front of you says nothing about that material.

HPLC, mass spectrometry and purity

Two analytical methods appear on virtually every serious COA.

HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography) separates the components of a sample. This shows how much of the sample is actually the intended substance and how much consists of other substances — impurities or degradation products. The result is often expressed as a purity percentage, for example "≥ 98%".

Mass spectrometry (MS) measures the mass of molecules and thereby confirms that the measured molecule really is the expected substance. HPLC mainly tells you how pure; MS mainly tells you whether it is what it claims to be. Together they give a stronger picture than either alone.

Purity is a useful measure, but not a safety verdict. A high percentage says something about how much other material is present; it says nothing about whether a substance is safe or suitable for any purpose.

Risks of the grey market

"Grey market" refers to the informal circuit in which research peptides are traded outside the regulated pharmaceutical chain. The main risks:

• Unknown composition. Without a reliable COA, purity, the actual quantity of substance and the presence of impurities are uncertain.
• Untraceable provenance. Material changes hands without the manufacturing conditions being known.
• Incorrect or misleading labelling. The stated substance or quantity does not always match the contents.
• No supervision. No authority checks quality, sterility or safety the way it does for registered medicines.
• Legal status. Sale and possession of non-approved substances have their own rules; see Legal status.

This site sells nothing and links to no sellers. The purpose of this section is solely to show which quality questions are worth asking when you encounter information about provenance and analysis.

Storage and stability as a concept

Peptides are prone to degradation. In general a freeze-dried powder is more stable than a dissolved form, and cold, darkness and dryness slow degradation down. This is background on why stability is a topic in research — not an instruction for preparing or storing material. The terms lyophilisation and half-life in the glossary give further context.

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See also: What are peptides?, Glossary, Legal status.