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Pipette tip material

The right plastic for high‑class pipette tips

For high‑class laboratory pipette tips, polypropylene (PP) is the reference material. No matter if it is fossil-sourced, or biobased material gained from renewable sources, such as second generation feedstock, used cooking oil, etc. Polypropylene offers a combination of properties that directly support accuracy and sample integrity:

Chemical resistance: PP is resistant to most aqueous buffers, salts, many acids and bases, and numerous lab reagents, which is essential for routine molecular biology and analytical workflows.
Thermal stability and autoclaving: PP tips can generally withstand autoclaving at about 121 °C, enabling reliable sterilization without deformation when processed correctly.
Mechanical robustness: Properly formulated PP resists cracking and deformation under the mechanical forces of pipetting and robotic handling, making it suitable for both manual and automated systems.

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The ideal conditions for high‑quality tip production

For truly high‑class pipette tips, the quality of the polypropylene and the manufacturing environment are critical:

100 % virgin, medical‑ or research‑grade PP, either fossil-sourced, or made from renewable resources that is free of slip agents, plasticizers, and heavy metal additives that could leach into samples.
Cleanroom production (e.g., ISO Class 7–8 / Class 10,000–100,000) to minimize particulate and biological contamination.

Biobased materials only show advantages

The production surrounding is the same and the quality control after molding has the same thresholds as for fossil-sourced pipette tips. This ensures the exact same quality of pipette tips and handling performance, combined with the peace of mind of reduced carbon footprint and spared fossil resources.

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Leachables: Minimizing the influence of plastic consumables in the lab

A truly essential detail of high-quality pipette tips is the absence of leaching. Leaching means diffusion of materials and molecules deriving from the plastic used for pipette tip production into the sample. These molecules could interfere and disturb biological assays and all kinds of analyses.

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