Pipetting knowledge hub

Eppendorf Quality

The baseline purity grade for general laboratory work.

Typical use:

• Routine pipetting (buffers, media, non-critical assays)
• When you don’t specifically require sterility or nuclease-free conditions
• These tips meet Eppendorf’s mechanical and chemical quality standards (accuracy, tightness, wetting behavior, etc.), but they are not certified sterile or nuclease-free.

Sterile

Tips certified sterile, typically by irradiation or ethylene oxide, with a sterility assurance level (SAL) of 10⁻⁶.

Key features:

• Sterilized according to ISO 11137 or ISO 11135, Tested per pharmacopoeias (e.g., Ph. Eur. 2.6.14) for absence of endotoxins/pyrogens
  

• Cell culture, Microbiology, Pharmacology / medical research where sterility and low endotoxin burden are critical

PCR clean

Tips manufactured under clean-room conditions and tested to be free of nucleic acid–related contaminants that interfere with PCR.

Certified free of:

• DNAse, RNAse, human DNA, PCR inhibitors
  

• Standard PCR and qPCR, DNA/RNA analysis where contamination can cause false positives or loss of signal

PCR clean + sterile

Combines the criteria of PCR clean and Sterile purity grades.

Certified:

• Sterility (SAL 10⁻⁶, tested for endotoxins), Free of DNase, RNase, DNA and PCR inhibitors
  

• qPCR with primary cells or patient samples, Molecular biology workflows that combine sterility requirements with sensitive nucleic acid detection

Biopur^® – Highest biological purity

Eppendorf’s highest purity grade for demanding biological applications.

Certified free of:

• Microbiological contamination (sterile), Pyrogens (endotoxins), Rnase, DNAse, human DNA, ATP, PCR inhibitors
• Each Biopur lot is tested according to pharmacopeial methods (e.g., Ph. Eur. 2.6.1 and 2.6.14) and is batch-certified by an independent laboratory.

• Highly sensitive PCR and qPCR (low-copy targets), Cell and tissue culture with strict endotoxin limits, Medical, pharmaceutical, and food-industry applications requiring maximum purity

Forensic DNA Grade

Dedicated purity for forensic analyses

For certain pipette tip ranges, Eppendorf also offers Forensic DNA Grade, aimed at ultra-trace DNA analysis. These tips build on PCR-clean criteria with additional controls to minimize background DNA, suitable for forensic and highly sensitive human DNA work. It is possible to reconcile DNA patterns with the production staff at Eppendorf to exclude impurities or inappropriate findings.​

Certified free of:

• Human DNA (small fragments), DNAse, RNAse and PCR inhibitors
• According to ISO 18385

• Forensic DNA analyses