The material of pipette tips directly affects their chemical compatibility, adsorption capacity, mechanical strength and other properties. The following are the performance differences and applicable scenarios of pipette tips made of different materials:

1. Polypropylene (PP) tips

Material characteristics:

The most common material for pipette tips has strong chemical stability and is resistant to corrosion by common reagents such as acids, alkalis and alcohols.

High-temperature resistant (can be sterilized under high pressure, usually withstanding a temperature of 121℃ for 30 minutes), but may slightly deform at high temperatures (without affecting normal use).

The surface has a certain degree of hydrophobicity and has a relatively low adsorption capacity for aqueous liquids, but it may have a slight adsorption effect on biomolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids (some brands reduce adsorption through surface modification).

Performance advantages:

Strong versatility: It is suitable for the vast majority of routine experiments (such as cell culture, PCR, ELISA, etc.), and is compatible with water, buffers, and organic solvents (such as ethanol, low-concentration DMSO solutions).

Low cost: The production process is mature and the price is low, making it suitable for large-scale daily use.

Wide compatibility: It has good compatibility with mainstream pipette brands such as Eppendorf and Gilson, and stable sealing performance.

Limitations:

It has poor tolerance to strong oxidants (such as concentrated nitric acid, concentrated sulfuric acid) and halogenated hydrocarbons (such as chloroform, dichloromethane), and may swell or deform.

It has trace adsorption on proteins (such as BSA, antibodies), DNA/RNA and other biomolecules, which may affect the accuracy of trace samples (such as the detection of low-concentration antigens in ELISA).

2. Low-Binding polypropylene tips

Material improvement:

The polarity of the polypropylene surface is reduced through surface modification techniques (such as siliconization and coating treatment) to decrease the adsorption of biomolecules.

Some products are made of ultra-pure polypropylene raw materials, further reducing the release of impurities.

Performance advantages:

Low adsorption: It can reduce the adsorption of proteins and nucleic acids by over 90%, making it suitable for the transfer of trace samples (such as NG-level nucleic acids and Pg-level proteins), and avoiding sample loss.

Case: In single-cell sequencing or exosome extraction experiments, low-adsorption pipette tips can significantly increase sample recovery rates.

Anti-contamination ability: Stronger surface inertness, reducing the interference of residual reagents on subsequent experiments (such as avoiding amplification failure caused by PCR inhibitor residues).

Compatibility expansion: Some low-adsorption tips, after special treatment, can withstand more organic solvents (such as acetone, isopropyl alcohol).