The pipette is an indispensable experimental instrument in biological research, and the number of its accessories tips used in the experiment is also very large. The tips on the market are basically made of polypropylene plastic. However, with polypropylene, the quality can vary greatly: high-quality tips are generally made of natural polypropylene, while low-cost tips are likely to be recycled polypropylene plastic.
Characteristics of pipette tips
1. Matching with pipettes - easy loading and unloading, ensuring sealing.
2. No defects - The shape and surface of the tip are free of flaws or defects, ensuring pipetting accuracy.
3. The raw materials are pure and free of additives - to avoid the influence of leaching substances on the experimental results.
4. Clean and free of biological contamination - the tip should avoid the threat of biological contamination, and be manufactured and packaged in an ultra-clean environment.
5. Conforms to Quality Standards - Tips from well-known manufacturers will have a certificate included in the package to demonstrate which tests are used to validate the product and the method used to ensure that any potential contamination is below specific detection limits.
Considerations for choosing pipette tips
1. Making tips with poor raw materials: non-100% pure polypropylene, with impurities (trace metals, bisphenol A, etc.), adding additives, not only the tips are transparent and shiny, the wall thickness is inelastic, but also there are dissolved substances that affect the test results. .
2. Tips with poor manufacturing process: inconsistent sizes lead to poor sealing consistency, especially for multi-channel pipettes, which will lead to inconsistent liquid levels and affect accuracy.
3. Poor quality tips: the inside is not smooth, there are flow marks, and there are gaps/burrs on the tip, which will lead to large liquid residue and inaccurate discharge.
The difference between pipette tips
Finntip Pipette Tips: Engineered to work with Finnipipettes to optimize performance.
Compatible with: 1. Single-channel and multi-channel pipettes; 2. Finnpipette F1, F2 and Novus pipettes;
Finntip Flex pipette tips: Soft, flexible neck reduces the force required to load and unload tips, significantly reducing the risk of RSI
Compatible with: 1. Single and multi-channel pipettes; 2. Finnpipette F1, F2 and Novus pipettes
Clip Tip Pipette Tips: Innovative interlocking snap-point technology ensures complete sealing of each channel and minimizes tip loading and unloading forces.
Compatible with: 1. E1-ClipTip electric pipette; 2. F1-ClipTip manual pipette
Tips for using tips
1. Maintain correct posture when pipetting; do not hold the pipette tightly at all times, use a pipette with finger hooks to help relieve hand fatigue; change hands frequently if possible.
2. Regularly check the sealing condition of the pipette. Once the seal is aging or leaking, the sealing ring must be replaced in time.
3. Correct the pipette 1-2 times a year.
4. For most pipettes, before use and after using for a period of time, apply a layer of lubricating oil to the piston to maintain tightness; for RAININ conventional pipettes, it is also ideal to not apply lubricating oil. of sealing.
How to choose pipette tips
Material:
1) Color rendering material. Commonly known as the blue tip (1000ul) and the yellow tip (200ul), the corresponding color-developing materials are added to the polypropylene.
2) Release agent. Helps the tip break away from the mold quickly after forming. Of course, the more additives, the higher the chance of undesired chemical reactions during pipetting. So no additives are added.
Package:
The packaging forms of suction tips are mainly bagged and boxed.
In a relatively mature market, box packaging is the majority; the so-called bag packaging is to put the tips in plastic ziplock bags, 500 or 1000 per bag. Most users will buy the bagged tips and then manually put the tips into the tip box.
Although labor in China is relatively cheap, it also increases the chance of contaminating the tip!
In addition, a new form of packaging has emerged in recent years, namely refills. This
These tips require less storage space and significantly reduce the use of plastic, thus achieving the purpose of environmental protection. Although the share of this form in the country is still very small, it must be the general trend in the long run.
price:
The bagged tips are mainly divided into three grades:
1. Imported suction head. EPPENDORF, a bag costs 400-500 yuan, and the sales are slightly larger, such as BRAND, RAININ, etc., generally 100-150 yuan;
2. Imported brands, domestic production. The representative brand of this grade is Axygen, and its price is generally 60-80 yuan;
3. Domestic suction head. The price range of domestic tips is generally 30-60 yuan. There are two main representative products, one is the suction head of Gongdong, and the other is the suction head of Haimen. This is followed by boxed tips and refill tips. Generally, the price of boxed tips is 1.5-2.5 times that of bagged tips, while refill tips are 10-20% cheaper than boxed tips.
Pipette Tip Specifications:
10ul (0.5-10ul white short tip / 0.5-10ul white long tip)
20ul (0.5-20ul white long tip)
100ul (10-100ul yellow)
200ul (20-200ul yellow)
1000ul (100-1000ul blue)
5000ul (1000-5000ul white)
