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Salts

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Inorganic and organic salts across the grade range. The specification error that costs most here is the simplest: ordering the anhydrous form where the procedure assumed a hydrate, or the reverse. The two have different formula weights, and a charge calculated on the wrong one is wrong by the mass of the water.

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In this range

Listed on the TSS storefront and searchable there by name or CAS number. Every enquiry is contracted and invoiced by Taitil Global Inc. in the United States or Europe.

Specifying it

What decides the purchase

The compound is usually fixed by the route. These are the things that vary between suppliers and between lots.

  1. Hydrate state changes the formula weight

    Copper sulfate pentahydrate is 249.7 g/mol; the anhydrous salt is 159.6. A charge calculated for one and weighed from the other is out by more than a third. Catalogue names abbreviate this inconsistently, so specify the hydrate explicitly and check it against the CAS number, which distinguishes them where the name may not.

  2. The counterion is rarely inert

    Chloride, sulfate, acetate and nitrate forms of the same cation behave differently in solubility, in pH on dissolution and in what they contribute to an ionic strength or a downstream analysis. Nitrates are oxidising. Where a procedure names a counterion, it is usually load-bearing rather than incidental.

  3. Particle size governs dissolution, not purity

    A coarse crystalline grade and a fine powder of identical assay dissolve at very different rates and dose very differently by volume. For anything metered volumetrically, or added to a reaction where dissolution rate affects the outcome, state the particle size or mesh alongside the assay.

  4. Heavy metals where the product is regulated

    Inorganic salts are a common route for elemental impurities into a pharmaceutical or food product, and the limits in USP <232> apply to the finished substance regardless of where the metal entered. If the salt feeds a regulated product, ask for the elemental impurity data explicitly — it is not always on the standard certificate for a technical grade.

Questions

Does it matter whether I order the anhydrous or hydrated salt?
It matters to the mass you weigh. The hydrate carries water in the crystal, so its formula weight is higher and a given mass contains less of the salt. It can also matter to the chemistry — added water is not always harmless, and some anhydrous forms are hygroscopic enough to pick it up anyway. State the form you want; the CAS number distinguishes them unambiguously where the name does not.
What does 'ACS grade' mean for a salt?
That the material meets the specification published by the American Chemical Society for that substance, with limits on named impurities and defined test methods. It is a purity grade rather than a compendial one, widely used in analytical work. It does not imply pharmacopoeial status, and it does not by itself carry an elemental impurity profile of the kind a regulated product needs.
Can particle size be specified?
Usually, within the grades a manufacturer runs — commonly as a mesh range or a d50. It is worth stating when dissolution rate matters, when the material is dosed by volume, or when a fine powder would present a dust hazard in your handling. Milling to a specification outside the standard grades is possible but adds cost and lead time.