A peptide product listing and its accompanying certificate use a compact vocabulary that carries a lot of meaning. This glossary defines the core terms in plain language — what each one means when you read it on a Vitatide listing or a Certificate of Analysis — and points to the longer notes where a term deserves more than a sentence. It is a reference for reading documentation, not a guide to any use beyond in-vitro laboratory research.
Research use only (RUO)
A label stating that a material is supplied for in-vitro laboratory research and not for human or veterinary use, consumption, or any diagnostic or therapeutic purpose. Every product in the Vitatide catalog is research-use only, and checkout requires explicit acknowledgement of that boundary. RUO describes the terms of supply; it is not a quality grade.
Lyophilized
Freeze-dried. A lyophilized peptide has had its water removed under vacuum, leaving a dry powder or cake that is more stable in transit and storage than a solution. It is reconstituted with a diluent before use in the laboratory. Most research peptides ship lyophilized for exactly this stability reason.
Certificate of Analysis (CoA)
The lot-specific document that records what a named laboratory measured for a specific synthesis lot — typically a purity result and an identity confirmation — against a stated certificate identifier. A CoA certifies the lot it was run on, so the check that matters is whether the lot number on the vial matches the lot the certificate describes. Reading one is covered in depth in our note on how to read a peptide certificate of analysis.
HPLC purity
High-performance liquid chromatography separates the components of a sample so the target compound can be measured as a proportion of the whole — the percentage reported as “purity.” It answers how clean the sample is relative to process-related impurities. In a deliberate mixture such as a blend, the same chromatogram shows more than one intended peak, so the number has to be read in that context.
Mass-spec identity
Mass spectrometry measures a sample’s mass and matches it against the target sequence’s expected value, confirming that the compound is the molecule the listing claims. Purity and identity answer different questions — how clean the sample is versus what it actually is — and a strong certificate reports both, a distinction covered in our note on HPLC purity versus mass-spec identity.
Lot number
The identifier for a specific synthesis batch. It is the link between a physical vial and the certificate that describes it: documentation is only meaningful for the vial in hand if the lot on the vial matches the lot on the record. Different lots of the same compound carry different certificates.
Purity versus potency
Purity is how much of the sample is the target compound; potency is a separate question about biological activity that an HPLC purity figure does not by itself establish. A “99%” purity result is a statement about composition, not about activity — a difference explained in our note on HPLC purity versus potency.
Reconstitution
Adding a diluent to a lyophilized peptide to return it to solution before laboratory use. The resulting concentration follows from the diluent volume and the stated content of the vial — straightforward arithmetic covered by our peptide reconstitution notes and the on-site peptide calculator.
Bacteriostatic water
Sterile water containing a small amount of a preservative (commonly benzyl alcohol) that inhibits bacterial growth, used as a reconstitution diluent in laboratory settings. It is a reconstitution supply rather than a peptide, and it carries product documentation appropriate to a supply rather than a synthesis CoA.
Molecular weight
The mass of one molecule of a compound, used in reconstitution and assay-preparation math to convert between mass and moles. It is also what mass spectrometry compares against when confirming identity: a measured mass matching the expected molecular weight is part of the identity evidence.
Peptide blend
A product that combines two or more peptide sequences in a single vial. Because a blend contains more than one component, its documentation has to account for each — identity and purity per component, and often a stated ratio — as covered in our note on reading a multi-component peptide blend.
Chemistry family
A grouping of peptides that share a structural or mechanistic class — for example incretin analogs, GHRH and GHRP analogs, pentadecapeptides and complexes, melanocortins, ACTH analogs, and thymosin fragments. The catalog is organized by these families so related compounds can be browsed together. As with every compound described here, each is supplied strictly for in-vitro laboratory research and not for human or veterinary use.