Glossary
Terms used throughout the Registry, Guides, and Standards & Industry sections, defined plainly.
- CAS Number
- A unique numeric identifier assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service to a specific chemical substance, used to unambiguously confirm identity independent of trade or product names.
- COA (Certificate of Analysis)
- A lab document reporting the measured purity and identity of a specific manufacturing lot — the primary evidence a supplier offers that a material is what it claims to be.
- FDA
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the federal agency responsible for approving drugs and regulating their marketing and labeling in the United States.
- GHS
- The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals — the international standard format Safety Data Sheets are structured around.
- Half-Life
- The time it takes for a substance's concentration in a system to fall by half — a pharmacokinetic property, not a measure of effect or safety.
- HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography)
- An analytical technique that separates the components of a sample to measure purity and detect contaminants — one of the standard methods behind a Certificate of Analysis.
- In Vitro
- Research conducted outside a living organism — typically in cell culture or isolated tissue — as distinct from animal or human studies.
- In Vivo
- Research conducted within a living organism, such as an animal model, as distinct from cell-culture (in vitro) work.
- Investigational
- A compound or use that has not received regulatory approval — the evidence may be substantial, but the approval process is incomplete or has not been undertaken.
- LAL (Limulus Amebocyte Lysate) Test
- A standard assay for detecting bacterial endotoxin in a sample — distinct from a sterility test, which checks for live microorganisms rather than endotoxin residue.
- Lyophilized
- Freeze-dried — water removed from a material under vacuum at low temperature to improve stability for storage and shipping.
- Molecular Weight (MW)
- The mass of a molecule, typically reported in grams per mole (g/mol) — used alongside molecular formula to help confirm a substance's identity.
- Peptide
- A short chain of amino acids linked by peptide bonds — smaller than a full protein, though the boundary between the two is not strictly defined by length.
- Preclinical
- Research conducted before human trials — cell-culture (in vitro) and animal (in vivo) studies used to establish mechanism and safety signal before any human study is attempted.
- RCT (Randomized Controlled Trial)
- A study design that randomly assigns participants to treatment or control groups — the standard for establishing whether an observed effect is attributable to the intervention itself.
- RUO (Research Use Only)
- A labeling designation meaning a material is supplied for laboratory research and is not manufactured, tested, or approved for human or veterinary use.
- SDS (Safety Data Sheet)
- A standardized document describing a substance's hazards, handling, and storage requirements, typically prepared to the GHS 16-section format.
- WADA
- The World Anti-Doping Agency — maintains the Prohibited List of substances banned in competitive sport; inclusion reflects anti-doping policy, not a safety or legal determination.