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Why Cu²⁺ Ratio Matters — a field guide. Read →
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Copper peptide AHK
AHK-Cu lot documentation
Discuss the AHK-Cu lot’s identity, copper content, UV-Vis results, and compatibility with your proposed formulation. Sales will confirm which records are available and agree any additional work required by your specification.
Overview
AHK-Cu is the copper complex of Ala-His-Lys. Its N-terminal alanine distinguishes it from GHK-Cu, which contains glycine at that position. AHK-Cu is supplied as a cosmetic active and is often evaluated for scalp and hair-care formulations. Finished-product claims and suitability remain the brand’s responsibility. The purity specification is ≥99.0% HPLC, with 50 mg and 100 mg lyophilized vial formats and gram-scale lots available. Ask sales for the matching batch COA and discuss any copper-content, Cu²⁺ : peptide ratio, UV-Vis, colour comparison, or stability data required for your project. The tests and reports supplied are confirmed against the agreed written specifications.
Who buys this, and why
Cosmetic-peptide buyers fall into two groups: established beauty / med-aesthetic brands extending an existing line, and private-label clients building a catalog from scratch. The first group usually wants lyophilized peptide material plus stability data in their existing carrier matrix; the second usually wants a finished formulation under their label. Both need INCI naming verified, regulator-specific safety files (CPNP for EU, FDA OTC monograph for US where relevant), and packaging-compatibility data.
Primary buyer fit: medical aesthetic clinics and med spas.
Applications & buyer fit
AHK-Cu is evaluated for cosmetic scalp and hair-care formulations. Discuss the intended product format and required batch records with sales.
Scalp-care cosmetic serums & tonics
The format AHK-Cu is most associated with in the cosmetic literature — leave-on scalp serums and tonics, formulated chelator-free in the near-neutral pH window the coordination prefers.
Rinse-off hair & scalp treatments
Used as a cosmetic active where brief contact time and surfactant load make coordination stability the formulation question, not the raw material.
Combined skin-plus-scalp regimens
Compatible with GHK-Cu in shared carrier systems, so an ingredient house can specify both actives for a combined cosmetic line without coordination conflict.
Specifications
Documentation available on request
Regulatory note
Sold as a cosmetic ingredient for use in finished products where the receiving formulator's regulatory framework permits. Finished-product safety, INCI compliance, claims substantiation, and notification remain the responsibility of the brand owner. Confirm applicable SDS and INCI documentation with sales for the offered lot and project scope.
Frequently asked questions
Both ligands wrap a single Cu(II) through the histidine imidazole and a deprotonated peptide-bond nitrogen, but the N-terminal residue (alanine versus glycine) sits inside the coordination pocket and alters the donor geometry. The downstream consequence is a different formation constant and a slightly different d-d signature in the visible spectrum. The published cosmetic literature associates AHK-Cu most often with the hair-and-scalp category and GHK-Cu with broader skin work, though we frame both strictly as cosmetic actives and leave finished-product claims to the brand. The two are mutually compatible in shared carrier systems, so an ingredient house building a combined scalp-plus-skin monograph can specify both actives without coordination-chemistry conflict, provided the chelator and pH guardrails are honoured uniformly across the carrier.
Cosmetic formulation literature lands AHK-Cu in scalp and hair-care finished products at roughly 0.1–1.0% on a finished-mass basis; the right figure for a given formula depends on the carrier and the brand's own development work, and the use level is a formulation choice rather than a claim we would make. What matters for the active is the coordination chemistry: keep the carrier chelator-free, near-neutral (broadly pH 5–6.5), and on copper-clean process water, and keep reductive antioxidants on a separate phase or downstream of the copper-peptide addition. Ingredient houses qualifying a finished scalp serum can request the lot-specific copper-content figure to anchor their internal release spec, and in-house dye-binding or UV-Vis checks through shelf life are a sensible parallel readout to confirm the coordination has held through the carrier.
Scalp formats — leave-on tonics, rinse-off treatments, and alcohol- or humectant-heavy vehicles — each present a different chemical environment, and Cu(II) coordination responds to all of them. The traps are the same ones that govern any copper-peptide formulation: strong chelators (EDTA, DTPA) compete for the copper and must be left out; reductants can reduce Cu(II) to Cu(I) and should sit on a separate phase; and a working pH that drifts below ~4.5 or above ~7.4 over shelf life puts the complex at risk. A formulator should plan compatibility runs in the proposed carrier with copper-content and colour readouts at t-zero, four weeks, and twelve weeks under both refrigerated and 40 °C conditions before committing to a production base. The release-file and stability principles documented in our Cu²⁺ : peptide ratio field note carry over directly.
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