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Concentration & math

Concentration is the whole game: it is the bridge between the mass of peptide in a vial and the volume you measure on a syringe. One formula covers it, and the arithmetic stays simple.

The formula

Concentration is simply the mass of peptide divided by the volume of water you added when reconstituting:

Concentration (mg/mL) = peptide mass (mg) ÷ water added (mL)

Everything else, converting to micrograms, working out what a given number of units holds, falls out of this one relationship. Recall that 1 mg = 1000 mcg.

Worked examples

Two vials, two water volumes. Notice how the same family of compound gives a different concentration purely because of the water added.

Example A, 5 mg vial
Peptide mass5 mg
Water added2 mL
Concentration = 5 ÷ 22.5 mg/mL = 2500 mcg/mL
Per 10 units (0.1 mL)250 mcg
Per 1 unit (0.01 mL)25 mcg
Example B, 10 mg vial
Peptide mass10 mg
Water added2 mL
Concentration = 10 ÷ 25 mg/mL = 5000 mcg/mL
Per 10 units (0.1 mL)500 mcg
Per 1 unit (0.01 mL)50 mcg

Quick reference table

Common vial sizes and water volumes, with what a 10-unit and 20-unit draw on a U-100 syringe holds at each concentration.

VialWaterConcentrationper 10 u (0.1 mL)per 20 u (0.2 mL)
5 mg1 mL5.0 mg/mL500 mcg1000 mcg
5 mg2 mL2.5 mg/mL250 mcg500 mcg
5 mg2.5 mL2.0 mg/mL200 mcg400 mcg
10 mg1 mL10.0 mg/mL1000 mcg2000 mcg
10 mg2 mL5.0 mg/mL500 mcg1000 mcg
50 mg5 mL10.0 mg/mL1000 mcg2000 mcg

Let the calculator do it

Once you are comfortable with where the numbers come from, you do not have to do the arithmetic by hand.

Reconstitution calculator

Enter the vial size and water volume and the tool returns the concentration and per-unit figures for you. Open the Peptide.ST reconstitution calculator.