Grade guide

Chemical grades, explained

The grade on a label tells you which tests a lot has passed and what it is fit for. Compare the 18 grades we use, read what each one guarantees, then browse the 10,272 products assigned to them.

Analytical and chromatography

For instruments and quantitative work where blanks, residue and UV cut-off matter.

Grade	What it means	Products
HPLC Grade	Chromatography solvents purified and tested for low UV absorbance, low residue, low water and freedom from particles.	387
LC-MS Grade	Solvents and mobile phase additives with low metal ions, low background ions and tested MS response, for liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry.	guide
GC Grade	Solvents for gas chromatography with high GC purity, low non-volatile residue and few peaks that interfere with FID, ECD or MS.	150
Spectroscopy Grade	Solvents and salts with guaranteed transmittance in the UV, visible or IR region and low fluorescence, for spectrophotometric work.	155
AR Grade (Analytical Reagent)	High-purity reagents with a minimum assay and named maximum limits for individual impurities, made for quantitative analysis.	1,435
ACS Grade	Reagents that meet the published monographs of ACS Reagent Chemicals, a public standard for analytical reagent purity.	138

Pharmacopoeial

Material tested to a named pharmacopoeia monograph for regulated manufacturing and QC.

Grade	What it means	Products
IP Grade (Indian Pharmacopoeia)	Material tested against its monograph in the Indian Pharmacopoeia, the legal drug standard in India.	472
BP Grade (British Pharmacopoeia)	Material that complies with its British Pharmacopoeia monograph, the UK standard that incorporates Ph. Eur. texts.	580
USP Grade (United States Pharmacopeia)	Material that complies with its USP-NF monograph, the official US compendial standard for drug substances and excipients.	733
Ph. Eur. Grade (European Pharmacopoeia)	Material that complies with its European Pharmacopoeia monograph, binding across the Ph. Eur. member states.	4,071
Pharmaceutical Secondary Reference Standards	Working standards qualified against official pharmacopoeial primary standards, for routine QC release and stability testing.	1

Life science and isotopes

Purity defined by biological performance or isotopic enrichment.

Grade	What it means	Products
Molecular Biology Grade	Biochemicals tested for absence of DNase, RNase and protease activity, with low metals, for PCR, cloning and nucleic acid work.	199
Deuterated and Stable-Isotope-Labelled Compounds	Compounds enriched in deuterium, carbon-13 or nitrogen-15 for LC-MS internal standards, NMR solvents and metabolic studies.	967

General, food and industrial

Routine lab use, food applications and process chemistry.

Grade	What it means	Products
LR Grade (Laboratory Reagent)	Good-quality, economical chemicals for synthesis, teaching and general laboratory work where trace impurities do not matter.	157
Extra Pure Grade	A middle grade with higher assay and more impurity tests than LR, below a full AR specification, widely used for synthesis.	640
Food Grade (FCC)	Chemicals made and tested to the Food Chemicals Codex or equivalent food-additive specifications, for food, beverage and feed.	89
Technical Grade	Industrial grade chemicals for manufacturing and processing, specified for main content and key properties rather than trace purity.	78
Electronic Grade	Ultra-high-purity acids, solvents and etchants with metals at ppb or ppt level and controlled particles, for semiconductor and electronics work.	20

Grades are assigned from the manufacturer label and specification of each product. When a method calls for a specific monograph or test, check the certificate of analysis on the product page or ask us for a typical COA before ordering.

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