GHK-Cu 50mg

Specification

What does the research on GHK-Cu investigate?

GHK-Cu is not a peptide in the ordinary sense but a coordination complex: the tripeptide glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine bound to a copper(II) ion, one to one. The colour is the first clue that something different is going on - the complex is a deep blue solid, and that colour comes from electronic transitions in the copper centre, not from the peptide. This matters practically because the copper is held by the histidine residue and can be displaced. Introduce a stronger chelator such as EDTA, or a pH the complex does not tolerate, and the copper leaves, the blue fades and what remains is the free peptide plus copper in solution. Any measurement made on the material afterwards is a measurement of something else. The published research uses the complex in studies of copper handling and of connective tissue formation in cell culture, where the metal centre is the point of the molecule rather than an accessory to it. Nothing here describes a use, benefit, dose or effect in people.

Is GHK-Cu legal in the UK?

GHK-Cu is not a licensed medicine in the United Kingdom and is not listed in any schedule of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Selling it as a research chemical is a lawful trade; what the law restricts is the purpose it is sold for, not the fact that it is sold.

Three pieces of legislation frame that distinction. The Human Medicines Regulations 2012 make it an offence to sell an unlicensed product for human use. The Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 prohibits supplying a psychoactive substance for human consumption, which is why a research-only basis is not a formality. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 would apply only if the compound were scheduled, and it is not. Each of these turns on the purpose of the supply, so the statements on this page are written plainly rather than tucked into small print.

In practice that means a supplier may lawfully sell to a researcher, research organisation or business buying for research, and the buyer confirms at checkout that they are 18 or over, buying in the course of research, and responsible for handling, storing and disposing of the material lawfully. Nothing here is legal advice for your own circumstances; if you need a position, take qualified advice.

How are identity and quality assured?

Each released lot is tested and the result is published, rather than the material being described as high purity on the strength of a supplier's word. Purity is measured by reversed-phase HPLC at an independent laboratory. The laboratory used for every lot published so far is Janoshik Analytical, in the Czech Republic, and the result is stated alongside the measured content against label so the two can be read together.

The report carries the lot number printed on the vial, which is the part that matters. A certificate showing a result without a lot number cannot be tied to the vial in front of you, and a certificate for a different lot tells you nothing about yours. Matching the printed number on the label to the number on the report is a five second check and it is the whole point of publishing both.

Identity confirmation by mass spectrometry is a separate test and is ordered as an add-on, so the figures published here come from RP-HPLC purity testing unless a report says otherwise. Where no report is published for a listing yet, the documentation held for the lot being shipped can be requested before you order. We would rather send you what exists than let you assume a certificate is available when it is not.

Synthesis and supply

Peptide material is built by solid-phase synthesis, purified by preparative HPLC, then lyophilised. Lyophilisation freezes the solution and removes the solvent under vacuum, which is why the vial arrives holding a cake or powder rather than a liquid and why a solvent has to be added before the material can be worked with. Removing water also removes the main route by which a peptide degrades in storage, which is the reason the format is used.

Sequence length and modification are what make batches differ in difficulty. Every coupling step is an opportunity for a truncated or deleted by-product, and a heavily modified or long chain presents more of them, which is why the purity trace rather than the headline figure is what a certificate is read for. Vials are filled and labelled with the lot number, and the lot number is what the report and the verification lookup resolve against.

Because the product is a complex rather than a single molecule, the meaningful purity question is the copper-to-peptide ratio and whether any uncomplexed peptide remains, which is a different analysis to a conventional peptide purity run.

External resources for researchers

These are the public reference sources we use when checking the identity of GHK-Cu, and the ones worth going to before relying on anything stated on a product page, including this one.

• PubChem — Compound records, computed properties, depositor-supplied identity data.
• CAS Common Chemistry — CAS Registry lookups where a registry number is known.
• ChEBI — Curated chemical ontology entries with cross-references.
• Europe PMC — Primary literature search by compound name, sequence or registry number.
• Certificate hub — Reports published for the lots released so far.

Frequently asked questions

Documentation & batch verification

The current released lot is IP-GHK50-002, tested 2026-08-24 by Janoshik Analytical (CZ): RP-HPLC purity 99.728% (RP-HPLC), measured content 51.10 mg/vial (GHK 42.52 mg · Cu 8.58 mg), identity Purity confirmed (RP-HPLC). The full report for this lot is published and can be checked online — verify this batch. See the full record for lot IP-GHK50-002 or all published certificates of analysis.

Published batch records show the laboratory, report date, purity and measured content where reported. Check the certificate for the exact lot: an HPLC purity result does not establish LC-MS identity, sterility or suitability for human or animal use. Review the published batch record before ordering.