This page explains the third-party certificates of analysis listed on our Certificates of Analysis page: what identity and purity testing can and cannot establish, and how to check a certificate against the lot on your vial.
Third-party certificates of analysis for selected OWSA Labs product lines. Each certificate covers only the batch and strength printed on it and was commissioned by the company named on it, not by OWSA Labs. We can’t yet confirm which lot is in stock; check the lot number on your vial against the certificate.
What the tests measure
Two questions, answered by two instruments.
- Identity — mass spectrometry. The measured molecular mass is compared with the mass calculated from the sequence. Agreement is evidence that the material is what the label says.
- Purity — high-performance liquid chromatography. The sample is separated into its components and the target is expressed as a percentage of total detected peak area.
Both have limits worth understanding before relying on them. Mass spectrometry confirms mass, not sequence order. An HPLC purity percentage is relative to detected material, so it is not the same as peptide content by mass — salts and residual water are typically not represented. We set this out in detail in how to read a certificate of analysis, including the red flags that make a report worthless.
Testing is per lot, not per compound
Synthesis is a batch process. Two runs of the same sequence, by the same manufacturer, produce material with different impurity profiles. A report therefore describes one lot and says nothing about any other.
This is the single most common way testing claims mislead. A supplier can hold a genuine, well-conducted report and still be telling you nothing about the vial you received, because the report covers a different lot. Each certificate listed on our Certificates of Analysis page shows the batch printed on the report. If that batch does not match the lot on your vial, the report is not evidence about your material.
Who commissioned the report
Each report we list was commissioned by the company named on it, not by OWSA Labs, and links to a verification address on the laboratory’s own domain. That distinction matters more than it looks: a report on the laboratory’s servers is something you can check without trusting us.
What testing does not establish
Identity and purity testing is a narrow instrument, and it is worth being explicit about what falls outside it. Material supplied here is not manufactured under a pharmaceutical quality system, and the following are not established by the certificates we list:
- Sterility. Material is not supplied sterile, and the certificates do not cover sterility.
- Endotoxin content. Not covered by the certificates.
- Residual solvents and heavy metals. Not covered by identity and purity testing.
- Stability over time. A report is a snapshot at the date of analysis. It does not carry an expiry date or predict behaviour in storage — see storage and stability.
- Anything about biological activity. Testing establishes what a molecule is, not what it does.
These absences are what distinguish research material from a medicine. They are not gaps we intend to close by wording; see what “research use only” means.
Checking a batch yourself
- Find the lot number on the vial.
- Open the certificates page and locate that lot.
- Follow the report link. Confirm it resolves to the laboratory’s own domain, not ours.
- Check that the lot number on the report matches the vial in your hand, and that the date of analysis is present.
If the lot number on your vial does not appear on that page, or the report does not match, contact support@owsa-labs.com.
For laboratory research use only. Not for human consumption.