When you’re sourcing materials for research, the single most useful document you can ask for is a third-party Certificate of Analysis (COA). But not all COAs are created equal, and knowing how to read one separates a credible supplier from a confident-sounding one.

What a real COA should contain

• The testing laboratory’s name — an independent, accredited lab, not the seller’s own bench.
• The analytical method — for purity, that usually means HPLC; for identity, mass spectrometry.
• A batch or lot number that maps to the product you actually receive.
• A test date recent enough to be meaningful for that lot.

Why the lab’s independence matters

A purity figure means very little if the entity reporting it also has an interest in the result. Independent third-party testing removes that conflict. When a COA names an outside accredited laboratory and gives you a method and a lot number, you can verify the chain yourself.

This is the standard we hold ourselves to. You can review our process on the How We Test page and browse current reports in the COA Library.

All products are intended for laboratory and research use only. Nothing here is a therapeutic or medical claim.