Peptigraph › Glossary › Certificate of Analysis (CoA)
Quality & safety
Certificate of Analysis (CoA)
Certificate of Analysis (CoA) - A lab report on a batch's identity and purity - usually by HPLC and mass spectrometry. Meaningful only when it independently tests the product you received.
Also called CoAcertificate of analysislab report
A Certificate of Analysis (CoA) is a lab report documenting a batch's identity (is it really the stated substance?) and purity - typically by HPLC (a common lab method for separating substances) and mass spectrometry (a method for identifying substances via their molecular weight).
What counts
A CoA is only as good as its source. What's meaningful is a buyer-commissioned test of the product actually received - not a certificate supplied by the seller or manufacturer, which may refer to a different batch or be arbitrary.
Common mistakes
- Treating a CoA supplied by the seller or manufacturer as proof of authenticity.
- Not matching the date, batch number (identifier of this production lot on the product) and substance name on the CoA against the product received.