Bacteriostatic Water 3ml | 0.9% Benzyl Alcohol

3 ml of bacteriostatic water in a sealed vial. The smaller of our two presentations, sized for reconstituting a single vial rather than a run of them.

Which volume to order

A 3 ml vial suits one peptide vial reconstituted at a moderate concentration. The 10 ml vial suits a batch of reconstitutions or a lower working concentration. Since the diluent volume sets the concentration, the choice follows from the arithmetic rather than from preference.

What is bacteriostatic water?

The difference from plain sterile water is the 0.9% benzyl alcohol. Sterile water is sterile only at the moment the seal is broken. Benzyl alcohol inhibits bacterial growth, so a vial can be entered more than once over a period without the contents becoming a culture medium. That is the whole practical distinction.

How volume sets concentration

A 5 mg peptide vial reconstituted with 2 ml gives 2.5 mg/ml. The same 5 mg with 1 ml gives 5 mg/ml. Add the water slowly down the inside wall rather than onto the cake, then swirl gently. Do not shake.

Storage

Unopened vials keep at room temperature away from light. Once a peptide has been reconstituted, the resulting solution follows the peptide's storage requirements.

How long does bacteriostatic water last?

An unopened vial keeps to the date printed on it, stored at room temperature away from light. Once the stopper has been pierced, the benzyl alcohol continues to inhibit bacterial growth, which is the entire point of the preservative, and a vial in use is conventionally treated as good for around 28 days.

That figure is a handling convention rather than a property of the liquid. The practical limit is usually the number of times the stopper has been entered and how carefully, not the calendar.

Does bacteriostatic water need refrigerating?

No. Unopened or in use, it is stored at room temperature and protected from light. Refrigeration is neither required nor beneficial for the diluent itself.

What does need refrigerating is a reconstituted peptide. Once a lyophilised compound has gone into solution, the resulting liquid follows the peptide's storage requirements, which for most of our range means 2 to 8 °C and protection from light. The water is stable at ambient temperature; what you dissolve into it generally is not.

How much water to add

The volume added sets the concentration, and it is arithmetic worth doing before the seal is broken:

• 5 mg vial + 1 ml water = 5 mg/ml
• 5 mg vial + 2 ml water = 2.5 mg/ml
• 10 mg vial + 2 ml water = 5 mg/ml
• 10 mg vial + 5 ml water = 2 mg/ml

A 10 ml vial therefore covers several reconstitutions at moderate concentration, or a single preparation at low concentration. Add slowly down the inside wall, swirl gently, never shake.

Supplied strictly for laboratory research use only. Not for human or veterinary use, and not for diagnostic or therapeutic application. Purchasers must be 18 or over and are responsible for compliance with the rules applying to them.