Identity · Purity assay · LOD · Residual solvents · Heavy metals

Incoming-material QC,
before it hits the line.

Identity confirmation, purity assay, moisture / loss on drying, residual solvents, heavy metals, and Certificate of Conformance for bulk APIs, excipients, solvents, buffers, botanical extracts, and reference standards. The receipt your formulation team needs before a drum opens.

GMP-incoming inspection
USP <232> heavy metals
USP <467> residual solvents
5–7 day turnaround
CERTIFICATE OF ANALYSIS
L-Theanine USP-grade · Lot LT-2418
GSA-2026-040118
● VERIFIED
MATRIX
Raw Materials & APIs
METHODS
HPLC + LC-MS + ICP-MS
RECEIVED
2026-04-03
ISSUED
2026-04-07
RESULTS
Identity (LC-MS)
Confirmed
m/z 174.20
● PASS
Purity (HPLC)
99.42 %
≥ 98.5 %
● PASS
Loss on drying
0.34 %
≤ 1.0 %
● PASS
Heavy metals (ICP-MS)
< 5 ppm
USP <232>
● PASS
Residual solvents
Below USP limits
USP <467>
● PASS
01 · What we test

Six assays. One incoming-material receipt.

We mirror the supplier COA against orthogonal in-house assays. If a drum says 99.2 % and we see 94.8 %, you know before it hits your formulation line — not at the customer-complaint step.

01
LC-MS / FTIR

Identity confirmation

Mass-spec or FTIR fingerprint to confirm the material is what the supplier said it is. Catches substitutions, supplier-lot drift, and degraded incoming material before it enters the formulation line.

LOD Confirmed · 3–4 days
02
HPLC-UV/DAD

Purity assay

Reversed-phase HPLC purity quantitation against the labeled spec. Reports observed purity %, individual impurity peaks above 0.1 %, and identifies anything above 0.5 % by MS.

LOD 0.1 % · 3–5 days
03
Karl Fischer

Loss on drying / moisture

Karl Fischer water content for hygroscopic APIs and excipients. Loss-on-drying for granular materials and powders. Both are required for accurate dosing calculations and stability projections.

LOD 0.05 % · 2–3 days
04
GC-MS HS

Residual solvents

GC-MS headspace for USP <467> Class 1 (benzene, CCl4), Class 2 (hexane, methanol, etc.), and Class 3 (ethanol) solvents. Required for any synthesized API or recrystallized material.

LOD USP <467> · 4–5 days
05
ICP-MS

Heavy metals (ICP-MS)

Pb, Cd, As, Hg per USP <232>/<233> Permitted Daily Exposure limits. Extended panel (Cu, Ni, Cr, Mo, V, Co, Ag, Au, Ir, Os, Pd, Pt, Rh, Ru) available for catalyst-residue verification.

LOD < 5 ppb · 4–5 days
06
Combined

Certificate of Conformance

Signed analyst attestation that the lot meets the stated specification. Includes identity, purity, residual solvents, heavy metals, and any supplier-spec acceptance criteria. The COA your downstream auditor will read.

LOD Pass / fail · 5–7 days
02 · Raw Materials & APIs pricing

Published. Per-test.
No quote calls.

Every assay a la carte, every panel bundled. Bulk discount at 5+ samples. Prices below reflect a single-compound submission.

Identity Only
$129$195/ sample

LC-MS or FTIR identity confirmation against the supplier spec. The minimum check before a drum opens.

  • LC-MS or FTIR identity
  • Observed m/z or spectral match
  • Pass / fail determination
  • Public COA + accession #
Order
MOST POPULAR
Identity + Assay
$249$395/ sample

LC-MS identity + HPLC purity + Karl Fischer moisture + heavy metals scan. The standard incoming-material panel for QC.

  • LC-MS identity confirmation
  • HPLC purity assay
  • Karl Fischer moisture
  • ICP-MS heavy-metal scan
  • Certificate of Analysis
Order
Full GMP Conformance
$449/ sample

Identity + assay + USP <467> residual solvents + extended heavy metals + signed Certificate of Conformance. cGMP audit-ready.

  • Everything in Identity + Assay
  • USP <467> residual solvents
  • Extended heavy metals (15-element)
  • Microbial limits (USP <61>)
  • Signed Certificate of Conformance
Order
À la carte assays
Add any of these to any panel
APRIL 2026
Catalyst-residue heavy metals (Pd / Pt / Rh)
Beyond standard 4-panel
+$89
Single-impurity ID
Targeted MS confirmation
+$119
Microbial limits (USP <61>)
TAMC / TYMC / pathogen screen
+$130
Endotoxin (LAL)
USP <85> for parenteral-grade APIs
+$110
Optical rotation
Chiral purity check
+$65
Particle size (laser diffraction)
Partner method for excipients
+$165
Why we're cheaper
Same assays. Fewer markups.
EQUIVALENT PANEL: RAW MATERIALS & APIS STANDARD
Gold Standard
$249
Identity + Assay panel
Eurofins CDMO
$425
Same panel
Element Materials
$395
Same panel
SGS Health Science
$460
Same panel + cert mark
03 · Common raw-material failure modes

Where incoming-material QC catches problems.

Supplier-lot drift, mislabeled drums, and recrystallization-residue carryover are the most common reasons a finished-product COA fails. Catching them at incoming inspection is an order of magnitude cheaper than at customer complaint.

Supplier-lot drift
HPLC purity vs supplier COA
High risk
Manufacturer changes synthesis route mid-contract; downstream impurity profile shifts. Catches up at the formulation line — or worse, at the customer.
Mislabeled drum / bag
LC-MS identity vs label
Medium risk
Wrong material shipped in correctly-labeled packaging. Rare but catastrophic — only identity testing catches it before formulation.
Recrystallization-residue carryover
GC-MS HS · ppm
High risk
Methanol / ethanol / acetone residues from final crystallization step. USP <467> Class 2 is the regulatory ceiling; Class 3 (ethanol) at 5,000 ppm.
Catalyst-metal residue
ICP-MS · ppm
Medium risk
Pd / Pt / Rh from cross-coupling chemistry. Often above ICH Q3D limits in low-cost API supply. Extended ICP-MS panel catches this.
Heavy-metal contamination (Pb)
ICP-MS · ppm
Medium risk
Lead in botanical extracts (turmeric, curcumin), spice-derived APIs, and mineral excipients. Prop 65 and USP <232> exposure both apply.
Hygroscopic moisture drift
Karl Fischer · % w/w
High risk
Hygroscopic APIs (lactose, mannitol, sodium acetate) absorb moisture during transit. Affects both assay accuracy and stability — re-test on receipt.
04 · Compliance

USP, ICH, FDA cGMP — the supplier audit standard.

Raw-material testing is contract-driven. We map every assay to the standard the buyer or auditor references in the purchase order.

USP <232>/<233>
Elemental impurities

USP elemental-impurity Permitted Daily Exposure limits for Pb, Cd, As, Hg in pharmaceutical-grade material. Extended catalyst-residue panel (Pd, Pt, Rh) follows the same PDE methodology.

USP <467>
Residual solvents

Class 1 (avoid: benzene, CCl4, 1,1,1-trichloroethane), Class 2 (limit: hexane, methanol, dichloromethane, etc.), Class 3 (low risk: ethanol, acetone, ethyl acetate at 5,000 ppm). Our GC-MS HS method covers all three classes in a single run.

ICH Q3A/B/D
Impurity reporting & elemental impurities

ICH thresholds for reporting (≥ 0.05 %), identification (≥ 0.10 %), and qualification (≥ 0.15 %) of impurities. Q3D for elemental impurity PDE limits. Our HPLC method reports any peak above 0.1 % area; impurities above 0.5 % get individual MS identification.

21 CFR 211
FDA cGMP for finished pharmaceuticals

Mandatory identity testing of incoming components per § 211.84. Our Identity panel ($129) provides the documentation a finished-pharma manufacturer needs to satisfy this regulation per lot.

USP <1226>
Verification of compendial procedures

USP guidance for verifying that a pharmacopeial procedure performs as intended in the testing lab. We document method-suitability data on every USP-method COA so downstream auditors can trace performance.

05 · Questions

Before you ship.

Still stuck? Email us — we reply within a business day.

Yes. SLA pricing for production-cadence QC kicks in at 20+ lots/month; volumes above 100 lots/month qualify for net-30 contract pricing with dedicated batch turnaround. Reach out with your monthly volume and we’ll structure a contract.

Catch the off-spec lot before it hits formulation.

Identity, purity, moisture, residual solvents, heavy metals, and a signed Certificate of Conformance — on one COA, with published prices that beat Eurofins and Element for the same scope.

Submit raw materials & apis sample Verify a COA