Dr.BariatricHTX said:

They are not contradictory, they measure different things, and this is the single most common misreading of a certificate.

I am more sceptical of certificates as a category than this thread is. The document tells you about a sample somebody chose to send, at a moment in time, and nothing about the vial in your hand. Independent purchase-and-test is a different quality of evidence and everything else is inference.

mel_PDX said:

I have a certificate reporting 99.2% purity and 6.1mg content on a vial sold as 5mg, and I cannot work out whether those two numbers are consistent or…

Mass spectrometry confirmation for certificates of analysis: beyond HPLC purity, mass spec tells you the molecule's exact molecular weight. This confirms identity — not just purity.

Why this matters: HPLC can show you a "pure" compound, but if it's pure of the WRONG compound, purity is meaningless. Mass spec at m/z 4113.58 Da confirms it's actually semaglutide. My Janoshik report includes both HPLC and mass spec.

If your testing provider only offers HPLC, consider upgrading to include mass spec for at least your first batch from a new vendor.

HPLC_Greg said:

I am more sceptical of certificates as a category than this thread is.

My vendor review relevant to certificates of analysis: ordered 4 times from my current compounder. Consistency has been excellent.

Shipping: 2-day priority with gel ice
Packaging: Professional, discreet, proper labeling with lot/batch numbers
Purity: 97.5% average across orders (Janoshik verified)
Customer service: Responsive within 4 hours
Price: $133/month for semaglutide 2.4mg equivalent

Following on from Dr.ObesityLA — and this may be the naive question:

Whether a purity figure and a content figure can disagree without one of them being wrong?

Reporting back.

Purity and content being different measurements was the piece I was missing. The vial was overfilled and pure, which is a very different problem from the one I thought I had.