Reagent Chemicals

Reagent Chemicals is a publication of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Committee on Analytical Reagents, detailing standards of purity for over four hundred of the most widely used chemicals in laboratory analyses and chemical research. Chemicals that meet this standard may be sold as “ACS Reagent Grade” materials.

Reagent standards relieve chemists of concern over chemical purity. “ACS Reagent Grade,” is regarded as a gold standard measure and is in some cases required for use in chemical manufacturing, usually where stringent quality specifications and a purity of equal to or greater than 95% are required. The American Chemical Society does not validate the purity of chemicals sold with this designation, but it relies on suppliers, acting in their self-interest, to meet these standards. In practice, the reliability of supplier stated purity is at times questionable.

In addition to specifications for each chemical, Reagent Chemicals provides detailed methods for determining how to measure the properties and impurities listed in the specifications. Included are detailed explanations for numerous common analytical methods such as gas, liquid, ion, and headspace chromatography, atomic absorption spectroscopy, and optical emission spectroscopy.

Reagent Chemicals is primarily of interest to manufacturers and suppliers of chemicals to laboratories worldwide, and less so to research laboratories. Many standards organizations and federal agencies that set guidelines require the use of ACS-grade regent chemicals for many test procedures. This includes the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). An exception would be those working on trace analyses (measuring contaminants in the environment, for example), where small impurities in reagents would be significant.