Lab chemicals - Pharma use

For good quality research and development work in pharmaceutical or any other industries, one needs a good laboratory and for which one needs good quality laboratory chemicals. It is presumed that commercially available laboratory chemicals are in general of good quality, as supplied, for most purposes in scientific and technological work.

 However, it is also true that for many applications further purification of laboratory chemicals is essential. In such purification processes it may be necessary to eliminate trace impurities at the micro and nano-gram levels. For this, ultra-purification techniques are available. Increasingly stringent requirements for reagent purity have gone hand-in-hand with developments in semiconductor technology, in the preparation of special alloys and in the isolation of highly biologically active substances. The need to eliminate trace impurities at the micro and nanogram levels has placed greater emphasis on ultra-purification technique.

The selection technique for ultra-purification of individual chemicals is based on the answers of two questions; purification from what, and to what permissible level of contamination. Where these questions can be specifically answered, suitable methods of purification can usually be devised.

Laboratory chemicals are available in different grades which are based on the impurity content and applications. Various purification processes are available to purify laboratory chemicals to the desired specifications of each grade. One important point is to be noted here that to purify chemicals to meet the specifications of a desired grade of laboratory chemicals, one must start with a material of the best grade commercially available.

The final assessment of the purity of a laboratory chemical is made on the basis of its physical constants in comparison with those cited in the literature. In the case of a new compound the purity should be assessed and the structural identity established by appropriate chromatographic and spectroscopic methods.