Subpar chemicals hinder research and development programmes. But that doesn’t mean you always need the highest purity chemicals for your lab. What matters most is selecting chemicals with the right purity grade for your specific work.

Failure to do so could mean inaccurate results, increased costs, non-compliance, and irreproducible experiments. These issues have a far-reaching impact on your reputation, lab operations, and ability to produce high-quality research and products.

In this article, we explore why a deeper understanding of purity variation is crucial for scientific progress. We’ll also discuss purity testing, safety regulations, and how to choose the right purity level for your application.

Why Purity Levels Matter

Understanding the appropriate purity level for your needs ensures safety, accuracy, and optimal performance in research labs, pharmaceuticals, and industrial settings. Here’s a detailed examination of the key reasons purity levels matter:

Different Grades for Different Applications

Determining purity levels is vital for classifying materials and assessing their suitability for specific applications. For example, to be designated British Pharmacopoeia (BP) grade or suitable for human use, a chemical must pass rigorous purity tests.

The UK grading system includes:

• Analytical Research Grade - These chemicals have a high purity level of at least 95% to ensure research accuracy as contaminants skew test results. Analytical research grade products are high quality, such as solvents used in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
• BP Grade - Pharmaceutical grade chemicals meet the strict standards of the British Pharmacopoeia. Purity testing ensures these materials are suitable for human use, for example, in the production of medicines or cosmetics.
• Technical Grade - These chemicals have the lowest purity level, typically around 85% to 95%, for use in industrial applications such as wastewater treatment. In this context, reagents don’t require a high purity level to be effective - cost-effectiveness is more important.
• GRG - General grade or general reagent grade chemicals are suitable for general purpose applications in research labs. At a purity level of around 95-99%, they’re apt for non-analytical applications such as cleaning or dissolving substances. 

At Atom Scientific, we recognise that a higher-purity product doesn’t necessarily mean a better product. Thus, we produce chemicals with varying purity levels from technical grade to general reagent grade so you can find the best product for your specific application.

Cost Efficiency

Using the wrong purity level leads to increased costs. As mentioned, it’s unlikely you’ll need more expensive, high-grade chemicals in an industrial environment. So, equipped with a strong understanding of purity variation, you can ensure you don’t pay more for chemicals than you need to.

On the other hand, using chemicals with insufficient purity in research or development can lead to failed experiments and flawed products, resulting in higher costs from wasted resources and the need for additional testing. When impurities produce waste or unwanted byproducts, you further increase disposal costs.

Safety

Purity tests are vital in experiments with a biological or therapeutic outcome. When developing new medicines or treatments, false conclusions are dangerous. Using chemicals with the wrong purity levels leads to skewed results, ineffective treatments, or unexpected side effects.

Similarly, undetected contaminants within medicines may have adverse reactions in patients. So, an expert scientific examination of your materials must be carried out to detect and even trace impurities and safeguard consumers.

Furthermore, purity levels that are too low could cause uncontrolled or dangerous reactions when working with chemicals in industrial processes. This could include the unexpected release of heat or gas.

Accuracy

Understanding purity levels is essential for quality control. In fields such as pharmaceutical development, biotechnology, and analytical chemistry, the purity levels of chemicals affect the accuracy of results.

Even the presence of low-level contaminants skews test results. Impurities may react unpredictably and create unexpected byproducts that alter test outcomes. This, in turn, impacts the quality of your research. 

In one clinical study, for example, undetected plant enzymes at just one part per billion present within a supposedly pure human protein changed the results of cell culture experiments. Consider the issues this kind of oversight could cause.

Low-quality materials affect your ability to manufacture quality compounds in pharmaceutical applications.This is problematic as a high purity level is required for development programmes to meet regulatory standards.

At Atom Scientific, we use effective analytical methods to test for unwanted residual solvents and organic or inorganic compounds, allowing us to obtain precise purity readings for all of our products.

Reproducing and Interpreting Research Data

Accurately classifying a material’s purity grade in the first instance is vital as it affects your ability to interpret and reproduce research data accurately. 

The 2015 PLOS Biology study found that 36.1% of irreproducible research fails due to subpar biological reagents and reference materials. The report concluded that vendors should only offer validated reagents and scientists should only use validated reagents. Also, the procedures to determine a lack of contamination should be reported in research publications.

So, in order to produce and reproduce accurate research data, the purity of materials used must be precise and identical in every iteration of an experiment.

We value your ability to achieve accurate testing for better patient care and create reproducible results for scientific progress. For these reasons, we undertook a substantial investment and development programme in 2018 to ensure our products are validated and meet the most stringent quality standards.

Atom Scientific: Your Trusted Partner for Accurate Purity Grading

Atom Scientific, we supply a comprehensive range of chemicals and reagents alongside our own manufactured volumetric solutions, buffer solutions and diluted chemicals. Quality and consistency are at the heart of every product we offer, and our in-house production in the UK ensures the highest levels of quality control.

Purity Tests at Atom Scientific

At Atom Scientific, we are dedicated to supplying high-quality products that support research labs in their testing process. To ensure that our chemicals meet the specifications stated on their labels, we carry out robust, in-house analytical testing procedures.This commitment to quality control guarantees that you receive reliable materials for your needs. 

Quality is further assured by the fact that we manufacture, bottle, and ship all materials from our facilities, which gives us complete control over the supply chain. We have the power to ensure quality standards are maintained at every step of a product’s journey, from procuring raw materials to delivering the final product. Thus, there is minimal risk of receiving defective products or subpar reagents. 

Supply chain control also means we can offer a custom service, adapting our processes to meet your needs. In other words, we can provide materials at the specific purity levels you require. Furthermore, we can offer the most competitive prices as we have cut out the middlemen, allowing us to reduce costs.

Regulatory Standards at Research Labs

At Atom Scientific, we comply with the UK regulatory standards that ensure safety, environmental protection, and research integrity. These controls are often more stringent than those in other countries, meaning imported chemicals may carry more risks.

We offer full compliance with the following UK standards related to chemical purity:

• Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and ISO standards emphasise accurate documentation of chemical purity to ensure reproducibility and reliability in experiments.
• The CLP Regulation (Classification, Labelling, and Packaging) ensures chemicals are labelled with purity information to assess risks properly.
• Accreditation by bodies like UKAS ensures our facilities meet international standards for chemical testing and purity verification.
• The REACH Regulation requires manufacturers and suppliers to provide details on chemical purity and any impurities.
• New IVDR Regulations require quality, consistency, and full traceability for diagnostic products.

Choosing the Right Chemical Purity Level for Your Application

All in all, you can ensure reliable outcomes, cost-efficiency, and safety by selecting the right chemical purity level for specific tasks. 

For routine lab work, such as basic qualitative reactions, opt for CRG-grade chemicals. These are more affordable and sufficient for work that doesn’t require a high level of accuracy.

For work that requires accuracy, i.e., sensitive experiments such as quantitative analysis or chromatography, you’ll require high-purity chemicals. Analytical grade or HPLC grade chemicals have a high purity level and ensure accurate results. This is particularly important in therapeutic or pharmaceutical applications where quality and safety are vital.

In a busy lab, you should carefully assess what is required for each project or aspect of your work. Thus, you can gather materials with the appropriate purity levels accordingly. By choosing the right chemical grades, you’ll balance costs and purity for optimal efficiency and a smooth-running lab.

What you can’t compromise on, however, is the accuracy of the purity grading. Choose Atom Scientific as your trusted partner for validated materials that undergo rigorous testing and quality control procedures to guarantee accuracy and compliance. And if you found this post useful, next learn the optimal practices for managing laboratory inventory.

Interested in delving deeper into chemical storage and inventory management? We go deeper into the subject in our deep-dive guide - The Ultimate Guide to Laboratory Inventory Management - click through to download your copy.