Quality
Certificates of analysis
A certificate is the record of what was actually measured in a specific lot — not a badge, and not a claim about the catalogue. This page explains what is on one, how to read it, and how to get the one for the vial in your hand.
What is tested
Identity, purity and appearance. Purity by reverse-phase HPLC with UV detection; identity confirmed by mass spectrometry, because peak area alone tells you something is there, not what it is.
Per lot, not per product
Each certificate describes one lot and no other. Two vials of the same compound from different lots have different certificates and may have different measured figures.
Independent laboratory
Testing is performed by a third-party laboratory rather than in-house, so the figure on the certificate is not one we produced about ourselves.
How to read one
What the number is made of
A purity percentage is not a grade someone assigns. It is the area under the target compound’s peak as a share of the total integrated area of the trace. Everything else on the trace is either excluded by convention — the solvent front — or counted against the total.
That is why the retention time matters as much as the height. Two peaks at the same height at different retention times are different substances, and identity is settled by mass spectrometry rather than by where a peak happens to land.
- 1Match the lot number on your vial to the lot number on the certificate. They must be identical — a certificate for another lot tells you nothing about yours.
- 2Check the compound identity and the stated strength against what you ordered.
- 3Read the purity figure, then look at what it excludes and the reporting threshold below which peaks are not named individually.
- 4Check the test date and the method. An old certificate against a long-stored lot is worth a question.
Target compound
- Retention
- 6.2 min
- Area
- 99.42%
The main peak. Purity is its share of the total integrated area, and its identity is confirmed by mass spectrometry at the same retention time — area alone would only tell you something is there, not what.
An example trace, shown to explain how the figures are derived. It is not a record of any lot we have supplied and the percentages on it are illustrative. The figures that apply to your vial are on its own certificate.
Request the certificate for your lot
We do not host a public certificate library yet. Email us the lot number printed on your vial — with your order number if you have it — and we will send the certificate for that lot.
If you are evaluating us before ordering, ask and we will send a recent certificate for the compound you are interested in, so you can see the format and the detail before you commit to anything.
Needs your input
Two things before this page is finished: the name of the independent laboratory you are using, which this page currently describes only as third-party, and whether you want certificates published per lot on the site rather than sent on request. If they go on the site, this page becomes a searchable index by lot number and the request route stays as the fallback.
What a certificate is not. It records what was measured in the material, and nothing more. It is not a warranty of performance, it says nothing about safety for any use, and it does not change the terms these products are supplied under — everything Harbourpep sells is for in vitro laboratory research only. See our research use conditions.