Frequently Asked Questions
Product Information & Quality
What are research peptides?
Research peptides are short chains of amino acids, typically 2 to 50 residues, synthesized for use in laboratory investigation, in vitro assays, and preclinical studies. They are produced through solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS), purified by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and confirmed by mass spectrometry. Research peptides supplied by PRPEPS are lyophilized powders intended solely for benchtop scientific work such as receptor-binding assays, cell culture studies, structure-activity relationship analysis, and analytical method development. They are not pharmaceutical products. They have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and are not approved, indicated, or intended for human or veterinary consumption, therapeutic use, dietary supplementation, or any in-vivo application involving people or companion animals. All materials sold by PRPEPS carry a research-use-only designation printed on every label and reflected in each batch certificate of analysis at /coa.
How do you ensure product quality?
Every compound in the PRPEPS catalog is synthesized to a minimum specification of 99% purity as measured by reverse-phase HPLC, with mass and sequence identity confirmed by ESI or MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Analytical work is performed by a third-party accredited laboratory operating under documented QA procedures, and results are recorded against the exact batch number that ships to the researcher. Additional in-process controls include appearance inspection, water-content measurement by Karl Fischer titration, and residual solvent screening where applicable. Non-conforming lots are quarantined and never released. Storage from synthesis through fulfillment is maintained at -20°C or colder in sealed foil pouches with desiccant, and every shipment is packed to preserve the lyophilized state during transit. The batch-level certificate of analysis for each compound is published in the COA library at /coa and referenced on the corresponding product page.
Are your peptides pharmaceutical grade?
PRPEPS peptides are research-grade materials manufactured to analytical specifications suitable for in vitro laboratory investigation. The term pharmaceutical grade is a regulatory designation reserved for active pharmaceutical ingredients manufactured under current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) and released for use in FDA-approved drug products; that designation does not apply to research chemicals and PRPEPS does not claim it. What PRPEPS does provide is a defined analytical specification: minimum 99% purity by reverse-phase HPLC, identity confirmation by mass spectrometry, and a batch-level certificate of analysis issued by a third-party accredited lab. These are the same core analytical checks used in early-stage discovery and academic research workflows. All product is designated research use only, is not intended for human or animal administration, and is not sold, labeled, or represented as a pharmaceutical, dietary supplement, cosmetic, or medical device of any kind.
Do you provide certificates of analysis?
Yes. A batch-level certificate of analysis (COA) is generated for every production lot before it is released for sale. Each COA is issued by a third-party accredited analytical laboratory and includes the compound name, molecular formula and mass, batch or lot number, manufacture date, appearance, HPLC purity result with the chromatogram, and mass spectrometry identity confirmation. Where applicable, water content by Karl Fischer titration and residual solvent data are also reported. All current COAs are published in the searchable COA library at prpeps.com/coa and can be located either by product name or by the batch number printed on the vial label. The batch number on the vial in a researcher's hand ties directly to the analytical file on the site, so any lab can independently verify what shipped. Archived COAs for prior batches remain accessible for record-keeping, method reproducibility, and internal audit purposes.
Legal & Compliance
Are research peptides legal?
Research peptides that are not scheduled controlled substances are legal to manufacture, sell, purchase, and possess in the United States when they are handled as research chemicals and represented as such, not as drugs, dietary supplements, cosmetics, or unapproved new drugs. PRPEPS sells its catalog under the research use only designation defined by 21 CFR 809.10 labeling conventions and comparable industry practice: material is provided to qualified researchers, academic laboratories, and analytical facilities strictly for in vitro investigation, and every label, invoice, and product page carries the RUO notice. PRPEPS does not sell scheduled substances, does not sell any FDA-approved drug, and does not sell any compound intended for administration to humans or animals. Individual researchers and institutions remain responsible for complying with any state, local, institutional, or export-control requirements that apply to their specific work and jurisdiction.
Can I use these peptides for personal consumption?
No. PRPEPS products are sold exclusively as research chemicals for in vitro laboratory investigation. They are not drugs, not dietary supplements, not cosmetics, and not medical devices. They have not been reviewed, cleared, or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or any other regulatory authority for use in humans or animals. They have not been evaluated for safety, efficacy, purity of dose, sterility, endotoxin content, or any of the additional controls that pharmaceutical products must satisfy before human administration. Every product label, product page, and invoice carries a research use only designation, and by placing an order the purchaser confirms that the material will be used solely for laboratory research and not administered to humans or animals in any form or by any route. Personal, therapeutic, cosmetic, dietary, and veterinary use is expressly prohibited by the PRPEPS terms of sale.
Do I need special credentials to order?
PRPEPS sells to qualified researchers, academic laboratories, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations, analytical testing facilities, and other institutions engaged in legitimate scientific work. A formal license is not required at checkout for standard catalog compounds, but by placing an order the purchaser attests that they are 21 years of age or older, that the material will be used solely for in vitro laboratory research, and that it will not be administered to humans or animals. PRPEPS reserves the right to request additional information (institutional affiliation, business tax ID, principal investigator name, or a written statement of intended use) for any order at its discretion, and to decline any order it cannot verify as legitimate research demand. Purchasers are responsible for their institution's chemical hygiene plan, state and local regulations, and any applicable export-control restrictions on the compounds they order.
Ordering & Payment
How do I place an order?
Orders are placed on prpeps.com by adding catalog items to the cart and completing checkout. Every product page lists the compound name, CAS number where applicable, molecular formula and mass, available fill weights, price per vial, current stock status, and a link to the batch certificate of analysis for the lot on hand. Checkout requires a shipping address (US only for standard catalog), a billing address, a valid email for order and tracking notifications, and acceptance of the research-use-only terms of sale. Payment is captured through a PCI-DSS compliant processor: BarterPay for all major credit and debit cards, or peer-to-peer settlement via CashApp or Venmo for researchers who prefer those rails. Order confirmations are emailed immediately, and a follow-up email with the carrier and tracking number is sent when the package ships. Order history and reorder buttons are available in each customer's account dashboard.
What payment methods do you accept?
PRPEPS accepts three payment methods at checkout. Credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover) are processed through BarterPay, a PCI-DSS compliant payment gateway. CashApp and Venmo are supported for researchers and small labs that prefer peer-to-peer settlement; instructions and the current recipient handle are displayed at checkout, and the order moves to the fulfillment queue once payment posts and clears. PRPEPS does not currently accept ACH, wire transfer, cryptocurrency, purchase orders, or net-30 terms as standard payment options; institutional buyers with recurring volume can contact support to discuss purchase order arrangements on a case-by-case basis. All transactions are itemized on the emailed order confirmation and invoice, with the compound, batch number, quantity, and unit price shown for each line so the record can be attached to grant documentation, internal purchase records, or accounts-payable files.
Is my payment information secure?
Yes. Card payments are processed through BarterPay, a PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant payment gateway; card numbers, expiration dates, and CVV values are entered on a tokenized form served directly by the processor and are never stored on PRPEPS servers or transmitted through PRPEPS infrastructure. The prpeps.com site is served exclusively over TLS 1.2 or higher with HSTS enabled, and the checkout flow is scoped to the same secure origin. CashApp and Venmo settlements are handled inside those respective apps under their own security controls; PRPEPS only receives the confirmation of payment, not any linked bank or card credentials. Account passwords are stored as one-way salted hashes, order history is bound to the authenticated account, and PRPEPS does not sell, rent, or share customer contact or transaction data with third parties for marketing purposes. Full details are documented in the site privacy policy.
Shipping & Storage
How are peptides shipped?
Every order is packed to preserve the lyophilized state of the product from the fulfillment bench to the researcher's freezer. Vials are placed in a padded, sealed inner container, cushioned with dunnage, and boxed in a rigid outer carton. Temperature-sensitive compounds ship in an insulated liner with frozen gel packs sized to the transit window, and orders placed after the daily cutoff on Thursday are typically held for Monday dispatch so no material sits in a distribution center over a weekend. Standard US shipping is via UPS or FedEx ground with tracking and signature-optional; overnight and two-day express service is available at checkout for time-sensitive work. Each shipment includes a printed packing slip, the vial labels with compound name, batch number, and fill weight, and a reference to the batch certificate of analysis at /coa. Damaged or missing shipments are replaced under the PRPEPS shipping policy.
How long does delivery take?
Orders received before the daily cutoff on business days are processed and dispatched from the US fulfillment facility within one business day. Standard ground service delivers to most US destinations in 2 to 4 business days from the ship date; more remote ZIP codes or delayed carrier scans can extend that window by an additional day. Overnight and two-day express options are offered at checkout for researchers on tight timelines. Tracking numbers are emailed as soon as the carrier scans the package, and delivery status can be followed directly through UPS or FedEx. Orders containing temperature-sensitive compounds are timed to avoid weekend transit: packages that would otherwise sit in a distribution center over Saturday and Sunday are held for Monday dispatch to keep the cold-pack window intact. Order status, tracking, and estimated delivery windows are also visible in each customer's account dashboard on prpeps.com.
How should I store peptides upon arrival?
Lyophilized peptides should be transferred to a laboratory freezer at -20°C or colder as soon as the shipment is received; storage at -80°C is preferable for long-term archival. Vials should remain sealed in their original foil or amber container with the enclosed desiccant to protect the powder from moisture and light, and repeated freeze-thaw cycles should be avoided. Under those conditions, lyophilized material typically retains its analytical specification for 12 months or longer from the manufacture date printed on the COA. Once reconstituted (commonly in bacteriostatic water containing 0.9% benzyl alcohol at a working concentration of 1 to 5 mg/mL) the solution should be kept refrigerated at 2 to 8°C and used within approximately 30 days, with the exact stability window dependent on the specific sequence and its known solution behavior. Aliquoting into single-use vials at reconstitution avoids repeated freeze-thaw of the working solution.
Do you ship internationally?
At this time PRPEPS ships only to destinations within the fifty United States and the District of Columbia. International shipments are not available through the standard checkout flow because customs treatment of research chemicals varies substantially by country, and many jurisdictions impose import license requirements, controlled-substance schedules, or country-specific research chemical restrictions that a US vendor cannot pre-clear on behalf of the receiving lab. Institutional buyers outside the US with an established import pathway (an in-country distributor, a customs broker familiar with research chemical HTS codes, or an existing international purchasing agreement) are welcome to contact support to discuss whether a case-by-case arrangement can be structured. Shipping to US territories, APO/FPO addresses, and PO boxes for research chemical orders is also handled case-by-case and may not be available for every product. Domestic Alaska and Hawaii shipments are supported through overnight or two-day service only.
Technical Support
Do you provide technical support for peptide reconstitution?
Yes. Each product page includes recommended reconstitution guidance for the compound: typical solvent (most commonly bacteriostatic water with 0.9% benzyl alcohol, occasionally acetic acid or DMSO for hydrophobic sequences), suggested working concentration in the 1 to 5 mg/mL range, and notes on solubility, pH sensitivity, and known solution stability. The batch certificate of analysis linked from the product page confirms molecular weight, which researchers use to calculate the exact volume of solvent needed for a target molarity. For questions that go beyond the product-page guidance (non-standard solvents, formulation buffers for a particular assay, stability under unusual storage conditions, or handling of unusually hydrophobic sequences) the PRPEPS support team can be reached by email through the contact form on the site. Support is limited to information about the material itself and its handling as a research chemical; it does not extend to protocol design or any application involving human or animal use.
Can I request custom peptide synthesis?
Yes. PRPEPS offers custom synthesis for research-grade peptides that are not in the standard catalog, including sequences with common modifications such as N-terminal acetylation, C-terminal amidation, cyclization (disulfide or head-to-tail), biotinylation, fluorescent tags, PEGylation, and D-amino-acid substitutions. Custom projects are quoted based on sequence length, modifications, target purity (99%+ HPLC is the default specification), and required scale, which typically ranges from 10 mg for exploratory work up to gram quantities for larger studies. Turnaround for standard sequences is generally 3 to 5 weeks from purchase order to shipment, with more complex constructs requiring longer lead times. Each custom lot ships with a full batch certificate of analysis: HPLC chromatogram, mass spectrometry identity confirmation, and any additional analytical data specified in the quote. Custom quotes can be requested through the contact form on prpeps.com with the sequence, desired modifications, quantity, and target delivery date.
Do you offer bulk or institutional pricing?
Yes. Volume pricing is available for institutional buyers (academic laboratories, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations, and analytical facilities) placing recurring orders or single orders above standard catalog quantities. Discount tiers are structured around fill weight and compound rather than a flat percentage: certain high-throughput compounds carry deeper price breaks at 500 mg and gram scale, while more specialized sequences move at smaller step increments. Institutional accounts can also be set up with a named contact, a shipping-address book for multiple lab locations, and consolidated monthly invoicing for accounts-payable convenience. Purchase order arrangements are considered on a case-by-case basis for verified institutions with an active procurement process. Custom-synthesis projects follow a separate quoting workflow described in the prior FAQ item. Requests for bulk pricing, institutional account setup, or a formal quotation for a defined order can be sent through the contact form at prpeps.com/contact.
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