The Craft
Copper coordination is a chemistry problem,
not a catalogue SKU.
Cupratec exists because copper-bound peptide actives behave differently from any other peptide ingredient on a formulator's bench. They are coloured. They drift in colour if you mishandle the buffer. They lose the bond if you chelate by accident. The craft is in keeping the Cu²⁺ where it belongs — and proving it with data on every lot.
01 · Method
Coordination, not just synthesis.
Free GHK and free Cu²⁺ are easy. What requires craft is coordinating them at the right molar ratio, holding the complex through purification, lyophilising without losing the blue, and verifying the chemistry on every single lot. Our process is built around the chemistry first — yield is what falls out at the end.
- Solid-phase peptide synthesis on cosmetic-grade resins
- Cu²⁺ titration under controlled pH to defined molar ratio
- Purification with Cu-aware buffers (no chelators in line)
- Lyophilisation with stability-tracked excipients
02 · Characterisation
Every lot. Every spectrum. Every ratio.
A GHK-Cu lot without a UV-Vis spectrum is just a powder. Every Cupratec lot ships with: UV-Vis (λmax around 620 nm — the Cu(II)-peptide d-d band — with quantified absorbance), Cu²⁺ : peptide molar ratio by ICP-MS or atomic absorption, solution stability data at 25°C / 40°C / 60°C, and colour ΔE against a calibrated reference. The numbers are how you verify it; we just print them.
- UV-Vis spectrum (λmax + ε at brand-relevant wavelengths)
- Cu²⁺ : peptide molar ratio (target ± documented tolerance)
- Solution stability through 6 months at 3 temperatures
- Colour ΔE against an in-house master lot
03 · Custom
Custom Cu-peptide work, gram scale up.
Biotinylated GHK-Cu for affinity studies. Palmitoyl GHK-Cu for oil-phase serums. AHK-Cu / GHK-Cu blends to a brand's spec. Cu-Glutathione for anti-oxidant programmes. We take on bespoke Cu-peptide chemistry that catalogue suppliers won't — at 25 g pilot scale upwards. Lead time runs 30-60 days from spec confirmation to first lot.
- Lock the spec: peptide sequence, Cu ratio, finished form
- Pilot synthesis at 25 g; characterisation review
- Stability study scoped to your application matrix
- Scale-up at 100 g / 500 g / 1 kg increments
Working on a custom copper peptide?
Send us the target sequence, ratio, and finished form. We respond with a feasibility note, a pilot-lot timeline, and a sampling protocol scoped to your brand programme.
Discuss a Custom Cu-Peptide