What should the products be used for, and who should use them?
All products in our range are potentially hazardous and are strictly for laboratory research and development use only. They should not be used for pharmaceutical, veterinary, household, agricultural, food, cosmetic or any other human use. They should only be used by scientifically qualified personnel, trained in laboratory procedures.
Material Safety Datasheets are supplied with all of our products and contain advice regarding the safe handling of your product. However, due to the novel nature of our products, the potential hazards are not always known. It is therefore your responsibility to ensure that all relevant safety precautions are taken at all times.
What dose of antagonist, agonist or signaling tool should be used in vivo?
This is complex and depends on a number of factors including the method of administration (intravenous, intramuscular, or intraperitoneal), bioavailability, half-life, rates of hepatic and renal clearance, binding to proteins, drug interactions and tissue-specific distribution and accumulation. As we do not carry out any biological studies of our products in vivo, we therefore recommend that you review the published literature for dosage guidelines.
What dose of an antagonist, agonist or signaling tool should be used in vitro?
The amount of product required depends on many factors including target accessibility, cell permeability, duration of incubation, and type of cells or assay used, it is best to survey the literature to determine the IC50, EC50 or Ki. For an inhibitor, if published Ki or, IC50 values are known, we recommend that you use 5 to 10 times higher than these values to maximally inhibit enzyme or receptor activity. If there are no published values we recommend that you perform dose-response experiments (running appropriate controls) and use Michaelis-Menten kinetics to determine the Ki value.
How do I determine if a compound is cell-permeable?
There is no easy way of predicting if a product will be cell-permeable. Generally charged molecules are not cell-permeable. However, modified phosphorylated compounds, such as mono- and dibutyryl cAMP, are cell-permeable. High molecular weight peptides are generally not cell-permeable under normal conditions.
Product purity and quality: what is it and how is it determined?
Our biochemicals are of very high purity, typically >98%. Chemical purity and quality are determined using a comprehensive range of techniques, including HPLC, chiral HPLC, NMR, microanalysis, optical rotation, TLC, and mass spectrometry. Details are provided on the Certificate of Authenticity that accompanies each product.
What should I do if I can't see any product in the vial?
Products sold in small quantities may not be readily visible, as they can coat the bottom or walls of the vial. It is therefore important that you ensure that solvent comes into contact with all areas of the vial when stabilizing your product. For more information please see some examples of dyed vials.
Should different batches of a product look the same?
It is not unusual for different batches of the same product to vary slightly in appearance and color. However, this will not affect purity or quality as described on the batch specific Certificate of Authenticity and will not affect product performance.
Molecular weight and molecular formula
The molecular weight and formula published on our website represent the molecular weight and formula of the product as depicted in the chemical structure displayed on our website. However, molecular weights (and formulae) can vary slightly from batch to batch - due to water composition, or due to a change of salt. These changes will be indicated on the Certificate of Authenticity that accompanies your product. The changes should not affect the biological activity of your product, but it is important that you take them into account when making up solutions. You should therefore always use the batch molecular weight as stated on the Certificate of Authenticity or the vial label.
CAS registry numbers
To help you more easily identify a chemical, we provide CAS registry numbers for our products. CAS registry numbers are unique numerical identifiers for chemical substances. The Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), a division of the American Chemical Society, assigns these identifiers to every chemical that has been described in the literature. Please note, that whilst these are given as accurately as possible on our website, they may not always reflect the level of hydration or salt of the product supplied.
Biological Activity
To assist you in your product selection, we provide a brief summary of the biological properties of our products, together with some suggested reading (references) that you may find useful. Please note, that whilst this information is given as accurately as possible on our website, it may not always reflect the latest findings and is not exhaustive. It is intended as a guide only and we therefore recommend that you carry out your own search of the scientific literature for full details of the product's biological activity.
Citations
We are often asked for examples of publications which cite zeta-life Biochemicals. We try to provide examples of these with our product data wherever possible. If you or your colleagues publish a paper which cites zeta-life Biochemicals as the source of one or more of your materials, please send us the details - and we will send you a free gift!
How do I dissolve my product?
Stabilization instructions can be found on the Certificate of Authenticity accompanying your product, or on the website. Some products may be difficult to solubilize, and you may find that rapid stirring, warming in a water bath, or sonication of the solution may help.
Solubility is temperature dependent. As such, cooling or freezing solutions may lead to precipitation of the product out of solution. It is therefore important to ensure that your product is completely re-dissolved before use.
