1. What "Best Price" Means for Urolithin A 99% Powder
Urolithin A reaches the search bar from three different directions. A consumer-facing buyer looks for a small retail bottle. A distributor compares landed cost across two or three suppliers. A laboratory procurement officer is matching a specification to a budget line that has already been approved.
Those three buyers are not shopping for the same thing, and "best price" resolves into three different measurements. For the third group — the one this page addresses — the relevant measurement is the lowest total cost of material that passes identity and purity verification on arrival, delivered on the date the study needs it.
That definition matters because a urolithin A quotation is not a price tag on a product. It is a response to a specification. Change the pack size, the analytical scope, the documentation set or the delivery term, and the number changes — sometimes by the width of the entire specification tier.
2. Product Identity and Available Grades
Urolithin A (UA) is a dibenzo-α-pyrone metabolite produced by gut microbiota from ellagitannins and ellagic acid. It carries four hydroxyl groups, which governs its polarity, its limited aqueous solubility and its behaviour on a reversed-phase HPLC column — all three matter when two suppliers quote the same purity figure against different analytical conditions.
| Compound | Urolithin A (3,8-dihydroxy-6H-dibenzo[b,d]pyran-6-one) |
|---|---|
| CAS number | 1143-70-0 |
| Molecular formula | C₁₃H₈O₄ |
| Molecular weight | 228.20 g/mol |
| PubChem CID | 5488186 |
| InChIKey | RIUPLDUFZCXCHM-UHFFFAOYSA-N |
| Hydroxyl groups | 4 (positions 3, 8, 9, 10) |
| Primary research mechanism | Mitophagy induction; secondary SIRT1, AMPK, mTOR and Nrf2 pathway activity |
| Appearance | Off-white to light yellow powder |
| Solubility | DMSO ≈45–50 mg/mL; insoluble in water |
| Storage | −20 °C, protected from light and moisture |
| Catalog purity grade | ≥98% (HPLC) |
| High-purity grade | ≥99% (HPLC), quoted per batch |
| Pack sizes | 100 mg / 1 g / 10 g / 100 g / 1 kg / 10 kg |
| Documentation | Batch COA, HPLC chromatogram, MS identity data, TDS |
| Use statement | For research use only — not for human or veterinary use |
Two purity tiers are commercially relevant. The ≥98% (HPLC) grade is the catalog baseline and covers most in vitro and mechanism work. The ≥99% (HPLC) grade is produced by an additional purification step and is quoted batch by batch, because lot availability — not a fixed list price — determines what can be shipped in a given week.
Pack sizes run across six tiers, and every tier is quoted separately rather than scaled linearly from a single unit price. The reasons are set out in Section 5.
3. Why There Is No Public List Price — The Seven Quote Variables
A published price list works for a catalog item whose specification never changes. Urolithin A does not behave that way: the same compound is sold at two purity tiers, in six pack sizes, with four or five different analytical scopes and to destinations with materially different freight and duty profiles. A single list price would be wrong in most of those combinations.
Seven variables account for almost all of the spread between two quotations for the same nominal product.
| Variable | What changes | Directional effect on price |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Quantity | 100 mg through 10 kg | Unit cost falls steeply as pack size rises; the 100 mg tier carries the highest per-gram cost |
| 2. Purity grade | ≥98% versus ≥99% (HPLC) | Additional purification step plus yield loss; the gap is a step change, not a percentage |
| 3. Analytical scope | HPLC only, or HPLC + MS + NMR + residual solvents + heavy metals | Each added panel adds instrument time and reporting labour |
| 4. Documentation set | COA only, or COA + TDS + MSDS + origin certificate + customs pack | Documentation is a cost line, not an afterthought; export packs are priced in |
| 5. Packaging | Amber glass, double-bagged foil pouch, or fibre drum | Hygroscopic protection and container grade scale with pack size |
| 6. Delivery term | EXW, FOB, CIF or DDP; air versus sea | Quotes at different Incoterms are not comparable on the number alone |
| 7. Payment and lead time | Stock lot versus custom batch; advance versus terms | Custom lots and extended terms both carry a cost that appears in the price |
4. Purity Grade Economics: 98% versus 99% HPLC
Moving from ≥98% to ≥99% by HPLC is not a 1% improvement in a linear cost model. It is an extra purification pass — typically recrystallisation or preparative chromatography — and each pass costs yield. A batch that starts at 98.4% may surrender a meaningful fraction of its mass to reach 99.2%, so the price per gram of the higher grade reflects both the additional processing and the material that did not survive it.
Where the 99% grade earns its premium
- Quantitative reference work — assay development, calibration curves and potency assignment, where a 1% impurity envelope shifts the calculated content.
- Method development and validation — impurity profiling requires a known baseline, and a lower-grade starting material introduces peaks that cannot be attributed.
- Regulatory-facing dossiers — where the specification is written into a filing and must be reproducible across lots.
- Stability and forced-degradation studies — degradant peaks are easier to resolve against a cleaner starting point.
Where the 98% grade is the correct specification
- In vitro mechanism screening — mitophagy flux, mitochondrial membrane potential and reporter assays tolerate a small impurity envelope.
- Early formulation feasibility — solubility, compatibility and excipient screening do not require reference-grade material.
- Exploratory work with limited budget — the 98% tier buys more experiments per unit of spend at the same molar concentration.
5. Pack-Size Ladder and the Unit-Cost Curve
Six pack sizes are stocked, and each answers a different stage of a research programme. Unit cost declines with pack size for structural reasons rather than marketing ones.
| Pack size | Typical research stage | Per-gram cost (directional) | What drives the tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 mg | Identity confirmation, first-pass solubility, pilot assay | Highest | Weighing, vialling and QC are fixed costs spread over very little mass |
| 1 g | One round of in vitro experiments | High | Single-vial handling plus per-batch analytical release |
| 10 g | Replicate studies, dose-ranging, small formulation trials | Moderate | QC cost begins to amortise across usable mass |
| 100 g | Pre-scale-up verification, multi-site supply | Lower | Bulk handling replaces individual vialling |
| 1 kg | Pilot scale and process development | Low | Container and documentation cost becomes marginal |
| 10 kg | Commercial-scale supply, distribution | Lowest | Largest amortisation base; freight becomes the dominant variable |
Per-gram position is a qualitative, directional market view based on pack-size economics, not a published price index. Absolute figures are issued only against a defined specification.
Three fixed costs behave this way: per-batch analytical release (one HPLC run and one report regardless of pack size), container and labelling, and handling labour. At 100 mg these are spread across a fraction of a gram; at 10 kg they are absorbed into the noise. The practical consequence is that per-gram cost at the 100 mg tier sits roughly an order of magnitude above the 10 kg tier for the same grade.
Between 10 g and 100 g the curve flattens noticeably. That band is where a programme that has finished screening and is moving toward scale-up usually lands, because it captures most of the unit-cost benefit without committing to a kilogram of material.
6. Total Cost of Ownership — What a Quote Omits
The number at the bottom of a quotation is the ex-works material value. It is not the cost of getting verified material into a laboratory, and the gap between the two can exceed the difference between two competing suppliers.
| Freight and fuel surcharge | Air freight for a 10 kg consignment is a material line item; sea freight trades cost for transit time and temperature exposure. |
|---|---|
| Customs duty and clearance | Classification drives the rate. Cleared value, not invoice value, is what the importing entity pays on. |
| Import documentation | Origin certificate, commercial invoice, packing list and any destination-specific chemical registration. |
| On-arrival re-testing | Independent HPLC verification is standard practice for GMP-adjacent work; it is a real cost per lot. |
| Replacement cycle | A lot that fails on-arrival testing costs the full lead time again, not just the material value. |
| Cost of capital | Full advance payment on a large pack ties up working capital for the length of the lead time. |
Expressed as a single relation: total cost = material + freight + duty + clearance + re-test + delay exposure + capital cost. A quotation that is 12% lower on material but ships EXW by air with no re-test allowance and a four-week custom-batch lead time can be the more expensive option in practice, because the delay and the verification cost both land on the buyer's budget.
7. Urolithin A versus Urolithin B — Procurement Differences
The two most-studied urolithin metabolites share a biosynthetic origin but diverge in one structural detail that cascades into analytical method, purity tier and pack economics. Urolithin B carries a single hydroxyl group at position 3; Urolithin A carries four. The consequence is a more lipophilic molecule with different retention behaviour, a different impurity profile, and a different commercial grade.
| Parameter | Urolithin A | Urolithin B |
|---|---|---|
| CAS number | 1143-70-0 | 1139-83-9 |
| Molecular formula | C₁₃H₈O₄ | C₁₃H₈O₃ |
| Molecular weight | 228.20 | 212.20 |
| Hydroxyl groups | 4 | 1 (position 3) |
| Catalog purity | ≥98% HPLC; ≥99% on request | ≥99% HPLC |
| Primary mechanism | Mitophagy induction | NF-κB and TLR4 suppression |
| Secondary pathways | SIRT1, AMPK, mTOR, Nrf2 | AMPK, Nrf2, AR/mTORC1, PI3K |
| Lipophilicity | Lower; four hydroxyls raise polarity | Higher; improved BBB penetration reported |
| Analytical note | Four hydroxyls broaden the impurity envelope | Fewer isomers; cleaner baseline |
| Price positioning (directional) | Two purity tiers available | Single high-purity tier |
The procurement implication is that the two compounds are not interchangeable line items in a budget. Urolithin B is supplied at a single ≥99% tier, so there is no lower-grade option to trade down to; Urolithin A offers a 98% tier that expands the number of experiments per unit of spend when reference-grade material is not required. Comparing the two on headline price per gram compares two different specifications.
For mechanism-level differences between the two metabolites, the dedicated comparison covers structure, metabolic origin, bioavailability and the clinical evidence gap: Urolithin A vs Urolithin B — key differences and research comparison. Compound-specific specifications for the B metabolite are set out in Urolithin B 99% HPLC powder.
8. Signals of a Below-Market Quotation
A price far under the prevailing band is information. Sometimes it reflects a genuine cost advantage — a stock lot being cleared, a larger batch with better economy, a supplier closer to the fermentation source. More often it reflects a specification that has been quietly reduced. Six markers distinguish the two cases.
- No batch-specific COA, or a COA without a chromatogram. A purity number that cannot be traced to a specific lot's HPLC trace has no verification value, and the cost of generating that trace is exactly what a below-market quote has omitted.
- Purity reported by UV absorbance or titration rather than HPLC. Different methods measure different things; a UV figure and an HPLC figure for the same material are not the same claim.
- CAS and product name that do not correspond. Urolithin A, urolithin B and ellagic acid are frequently conflated in listings. A CAS field that does not match the named compound invalidates every downstream comparison.
- No lot number with traceability to a batch record. Material that cannot be traced to a manufacturing batch cannot be re-ordered reproducibly, which defeats the purpose of buying a characterised reference compound.
- Solubility or appearance that contradicts the literature. Urolithin A is water-insoluble; a listing that describes it as freely water-soluble is describing a different material or a formulated blend.
- Price materially below the band with no stated explanation. Stock clearance is a legitimate reason and is usually stated. Silence, in this context, is a specification gap rather than a bargain.
9. Documentation, Lead Time and Freight
Three operational items determine whether a quotation is executable rather than merely attractive: what paperwork travels with the material, how long the lot takes to exist, and how it moves.
Documentation package
| Batch COA | Lot number, test items, methods, acceptance criteria and conclusion. The document that makes a purity claim auditable. |
|---|---|
| HPLC chromatogram | Retention time, column and mobile phase conditions, detection wavelength, integration report. |
| MS identity data | Confirmation that the detected mass corresponds to C₁₃H₈O₄, MW 228.20. |
| TDS | Solubility, storage, handling and packaging specifications for the supplied lot. |
| Origin and customs pack | Commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin and any destination-specific import documentation. |
Lead time
Stock lots move on dispatch times; custom batches move on production scheduling, and a ≥99% grade generally requires a purification pass that a ≥98% grade does not. Lead time is therefore a function of grade and pack size as much as of distance, and a custom 1 kg lot of the higher grade has a materially different timeline from a 10 g aliquot drawn from existing stock.
Freight
Urolithin A is supplied as a non-hazardous solid, and freight classification follows the carrier documentation and destination rules rather than a UN hazard class. The practical constraints are different: powder consignments are sensitive to moisture and to extended ambient exposure in transit, and the −20 °C storage condition applies to the material after arrival. Air freight shortens exposure; sea freight reduces cost on kilogram-scale orders but lengthens the window in which a hygroscopic powder sits in uncontrolled conditions.
10. Comparing Two Quotations — A Structured Scorecard
Eight fields determine whether two quotations describe the same deliverable. Where any field is missing from one quote and present in the other, the comparison is not yet valid.
| Field | What to extract from each quote | Why it changes the number |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Grade definition | Purity figure plus method, wavelength, integration basis | An undefined 99% is not equivalent to a defined 99% |
| 2. Analytical scope | Which panels are included: HPLC, MS, NMR, residual solvents, heavy metals | Panels are priced individually |
| 3. Pack size | Exact mass supplied per container | Unit cost is not linear across the ladder |
| 4. Incoterm | EXW, FOB, CIF or DDP | A CIF quote includes freight a EXW quote excludes |
| 5. Lead time | Dispatch date for stock; production date for custom | Delay exposure is a budget line |
| 6. Documentation | COA, TDS, MSDS, origin certificate, customs pack | Export packs carry real administrative cost |
| 7. Batch traceability | Lot number and re-order reference | Reproducibility across lots is the point of a reference material |
| 8. Re-test policy | What happens if on-arrival verification fails | Transfers a cost that otherwise sits with the buyer |
11. The Urolithin Reference Set
The urolithin material on this site is documented across four linked resources. Each answers a different question, and the pricing question on this page only resolves correctly against the product specification behind it.
Urolithin A — product and specifications
CAS 1143-70-0, ≥98% (HPLC), six pack sizes, the full QC and documentation set, and the quotation form for a defined specification. View specifications
Urolithin A vs Urolithin B
Structure, metabolic origin, mitophagy versus NF-κB mechanisms, bioavailability and the clinical evidence gap between the two metabolites. Read the comparison
Urolithin B 99% HPLC powder
CAS 1139-83-9, C₁₃H₈O₃, ≥99% HPLC. NF-κB, TLR4 and AMPK pharmacology, physicochemical data and packaging for the single-hydroxyl metabolite. Read the monograph
Pricing questions usually arrive attached to one of three decisions: which grade, which pack size, or which metabolite. This page settles the first two; the comparison and monograph pages settle the third.
12. Frequently Asked Questions
What is the price of urolithin A 99% powder?
Urolithin A is quoted against a specification rather than sold from a public price list. The figure depends on pack size (100 mg to 10 kg), purity grade (≥98% or ≥99% by HPLC), analytical scope, documentation set, packaging, delivery term and whether the lot is drawn from stock or produced as a custom batch. A quotation issued against a defined specification is the only comparable document.
Why is there no published price list for urolithin A?
Because the same compound is supplied at two purity tiers, in six pack sizes, with several analytical scopes and to destinations with different freight and duty profiles. A single list price would be incorrect for most combinations, and it would be quoted against an undefined specification. Batch-by-batch quotation keeps the number tied to what is actually shipped.
Is 99% purity the same across different suppliers?
No. HPLC purity can be reported by area normalisation or against an external standard, at 254 nm, 280 nm or 300 nm, with or without correction for residual solvents and water. Two suppliers quoting 99% under different conventions may be describing materials a full grade apart. The figure becomes verifiable only when the chromatogram, wavelength and integration basis accompany it.
Is the 98% grade sufficient instead of 99%?
For in vitro mechanism work, mitochondrial assays, solubility screening and formulation feasibility, the ≥98% (HPLC) grade is normally the correct specification. The ≥99% grade earns its premium in quantitative reference work, method development and validation, stability studies and regulatory-facing dossiers, where a narrow impurity envelope is required for the measurement to hold.
What is the smallest pack size available?
100 mg. This tier exists for identity confirmation, first-pass solubility checks and pilot assays, and it carries the highest per-gram cost because weighing, vialling and per-batch analytical release are fixed costs spread over a very small mass.
What is the largest pack size available?
10 kg. At this tier the per-batch analytical and handling costs are fully amortised, so unit cost reaches its lowest point on the ladder, while freight and customs clearance become the dominant terms in the total cost calculation.
How does pack size affect the unit cost?
Unit cost falls steeply as pack size rises, for structural rather than promotional reasons. One HPLC release and one report are generated per batch regardless of pack size, and container and handling costs scale far more slowly than mass. Per-gram cost at the 100 mg tier therefore sits roughly an order of magnitude above the 10 kg tier for the same grade, with the curve flattening noticeably between 10 g and 100 g.
What documentation comes with an order?
A batch-specific COA carrying the lot number, test items, methods and acceptance criteria; the HPLC chromatogram with column, mobile phase, wavelength and integration report; MS identity data consistent with C₁₃H₈O₄ and MW 228.20; and a TDS covering solubility, storage and handling. Commercial invoice, packing list and certificate of origin accompany export consignments.
Does urolithin A require cold-chain shipping?
Urolithin A is supplied as a non-hazardous solid and is stored at −20 °C protected from light and moisture after arrival. Cold chain is not a general requirement for the powder in transit, but moisture and extended ambient exposure are the practical constraints, which is why air freight is preferred on smaller consignments and why sea freight is evaluated against transit time on kilogram-scale orders.
How does urolithin B pricing compare with urolithin A?
The two are not directly comparable on headline price per gram. Urolithin B (CAS 1139-83-9) is supplied at a single ≥99% HPLC tier, so there is no lower-grade option to trade down to, whereas urolithin A offers both ≥98% and ≥99% tiers. Comparing them requires both quotes restated at the same purity definition, pack size and delivery term.
Is urolithin A a dietary supplement?
No. Urolithin A supplied by NutraBiotech is a laboratory research compound for research use only. It is not a dietary supplement and is not intended for human or veterinary use, diagnosis or treatment. All material is supplied for laboratory and formulation research purposes.
13. Conclusion
The best price for urolithin A 99% powder is not the lowest number on a quotation. It is the lowest total cost of material that clears identity and purity verification on arrival, delivered on the date the study requires, against a specification both parties can point to.
Four facts organise that calculation. Grade is a specification, not a label — a 99% figure without method, wavelength and integration basis cannot be compared to anything. Pack size dominates unit cost — the 100 mg tier and the 10 kg tier are not the same product priced differently, they serve different stages of a programme. Delivery term and documentation are inside the price — an EXW quote and a DDP quote for the same lot are different offers. And a below-market number is a specification question first — stock clearance explains some of them, a missing chromatogram explains most of the rest.
Urolithin A is catalogued at ≥98% (HPLC) with a ≥99% grade quoted per batch, across six pack sizes from 100 mg to 10 kg, with full batch documentation. Quotations are issued against the quantity, purity grade and destination specified in the enquiry.
Need a Urolithin A Quotation?
Send the pack size, purity grade and destination. Pricing, lead time, COA and freight options are returned against that specification — so the number is comparable with any other quote on the same terms.