LECTURE 2: Chemicals Used for Reagent Preparation

1. Analytic Reagent Grade (AR)

2. Ultrapure reagents

3. Chemically Pure (CP) or Pure Grade

4. Technical or Commercial grade

5. United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) and National Formulary (NF)

CHEMICALS USED FOR REAGENT PREPARATION:

Analytic Reagent Grade (AR)

Important for qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Analytic Reagent Grade (AR)

Specifications were established by the American Chemical Society (ACS).

• chemical manufacturers will either meet or exceed these requirements

American Chemical Society (ACS)

Specifications of Analytic Reagent Grade (AR) were established by the?

Analytic Reagent Grade (AR)

Labels on reagents state the actual impurities for each chemical lot or list the maximum allowable impurities.

Analytic Reagent Grade (AR)

The labels should be clearly printed with the percentage of impurities present and either the initials AR or ACS or the term For laboratory use or ACS StandardGrade Reference Materials.

Analytic Reagent Grade (AR)

Uses: trace element analysis and preparation of standard solutions

Analytic Reagent Grade (AR)

Chemicals of this category are suitable for use in most analytic laboratory procedures.

Ultrapure reagents

Have been put through additional purification steps.

Ultrapure reagents

Examples:

• Spectograde,

• Nanograde, and

• HPLC pure

Ultrapure reagents

Uses:

• chromatography,

• atomic absorption,

• immunoassays

• molecular diagnostics

• standardization

• other techniques that require extremely pure chemicals

Ultrapure reagents

These reagents may carry designations of:

• HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) or

• chromatographic on their labels.

Chemically Pure (CP) or Pure Grade

Impurity limitations are not stated.

Chemically Pure (CP) or Pure Grade

Preparation of these chemicals is not uniform.

Chemically Pure (CP) or Pure Grade

Not recommended for research and analytical chemistry unless purification or a reagent blank is included.

Technical or Commercial grade

Used primarily in manufacturing

Technical or Commercial grade

Should never be used in clinical laboratory setting.

United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) and National Formulary (NF)

Approved for human consumption but may not be applicable for laboratory analysis.

United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) and National Formulary (NF)

Purpose: for drug monitoring

United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) and National Formulary (NF)

The limitations established for this group of chemicals are based only on the criterion of not being injurious to individuals

United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) and National Formulary (NF)

Chemicals in this group may be pure enough for use in most chemical procedures; however, it should be recognized that the purity standards are not based on the needs of the laboratory and, therefore, may or may not meet all assay requirements.