Kindly suggest me that what should be the shelf life or use before date of laboratory chemicals and reagents after opening.
The shelf life of laboratory chemicals and reagents after opening is much less than that of unopened ones. This is based on the degradation or decomposition due to various eeasons like air oxidation or CO2 absorption or atmospheric moisture intake etc. Generally, for dry solid chemicals it is one year, for solvents 3 to 6 months and reagents few weeks to 3 months. For standard stock solutions, normal volumetric solutions the stability should be established to decide shelf life. For hygroscopic material the shelf life after opening the bottles generally should be 3 months. This should be well defined in internal SOP. Therefore, while purchasing the materials the minimum required quantity per bottle should be ordered.
3 Likes
Thanks for your valuable remarks.
OK, thanks. It’s my pleasure to share knowledge and experience l gathered so far in my career.
2 Likes