Scope
This note covers the sealed vial as supplied, receipt, storage, and the records around it. Reconstitution and anything downstream of it sit with the receiving laboratory and its own protocols, and are outside the scope of this page. All material in this catalog is supplied for laboratory research use only.
On arrival
Open the shipment promptly and work through the same short sequence every time:
- Inspect each vial for a cracked seal, a compromised stopper, or a broken vacuum.
- Confirm the lot number on the label against the packing list and against the certificate of analysis for that lot.
- Note the physical state of the cake. Lyophilized material is usually a white to off-white cake or powder; a collapsed, shrunken or discoloured cake is worth recording before anything else happens to the vial.
- Record the arrival date and the condition, then move the vials into storage.
Lyophilized peptide is comparatively tolerant of ambient temperature for the days a parcel is in transit, which is why it is shipped this way. That tolerance is a transit allowance, not a storage plan.
Temperature
Commonly specified practice for sealed lyophilized material is refrigeration at 2–8 °C for near-term storage and −20 °C or below for longer holds; some laboratories keep long-term stock at −80 °C. Where the vial label or the certificate specifies a condition, that specification wins over any general guidance, including this page.
The variable that does the damage is usually not the set point but the cycling. A freezer that is opened forty times a day subjects its contents to repeated warming and cooling. Store research stock toward the back, away from the door, and keep a thermometer or logger in the same space rather than trusting the dial.
Moisture
Lyophilized peptide is hygroscopic: it will pull water out of the air given the chance, and water is the thing the drying step removed. Two habits prevent most of that.
- Keep vials sealed until they are actually needed. An intact seal is the primary moisture barrier.
- Let a cold vial equilibrate to room temperature before the seal is broken. Opening a vial straight out of a freezer invites condensation onto the cake, which is exactly the outcome the storage was protecting against.
A desiccant in the secondary container is cheap insurance in a humid room.
Light
Store vials in the dark. A closed box, an opaque secondary container, or amber glass all work; the point is to avoid prolonged direct light, especially daylight and UV. Freezers and refrigerators are dark by default, which quietly handles this for stored stock, the exposure risk is the bench, where a vial sits out under lights while other work happens.
Freeze-thaw cycles
Each trip from cold to ambient and back is a small stress. For sealed lyophilized material the practical rule is to minimise the number of trips: pull what is needed, return the rest promptly, and do not use the research stock freezer as working space. Where a lot will be drawn on repeatedly, plan the handling so the bulk of the material is disturbed as few times as possible.
Labelling and records
The label on the vial should carry the compound, the size, and the lot number, and it should stay legible at storage temperature, adhesive and ink both behave differently at −20 °C. Keep an inventory row for every vial with:
Reading the certificate that goes with that lot number is covered in how to read a certificate of analysis.
Disposal
Expired, damaged, or unidentifiable material is disposed of under the institution’s own chemical waste policy. Record the disposal against the lot so the inventory closes out cleanly rather than leaving an open row nobody can account for.