L-Carnitine 5000mg
For in-vitro laboratory research only. Not for human or animal administration.
Batch #: VPLC5000100
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Research Use Only
For in-vitro laboratory research by qualified professionals only. Not for human or animal administration. Not a drug, food, cosmetic or dietary supplement. Not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate or prevent any disease. Batch-specific Certificates of Analysis available for all products.
L-Carnitine 5000mg: overview
What the vial contains and what the material is, stated as specifications rather than as outcomes.
L-Carnitine supplied as a lyophilized powder in a sealed single-use vial containing 5,000 mg of material. L-Carnitine: molecular formula C₇H₁₅NO₃, molecular weight 161.2 g/mol, CAS 541-15-1. Released to a specification of >99% purity by HPLC. Soluble in bacteriostatic water. Supplied for in-vitro laboratory research only. Not a drug, food or supplement. Not for human or veterinary use.
Volta does not provide dosing, administration or protocol guidance for any material listed.
L-Carnitine 5000mg specifications
Every field the product record holds. A field with no value is omitted rather than printed as a dash.
- Fill
- 5,000mg
- Form
- Lyophilized powder
- CAS number
- 541-15-1
- Molecular formula
- C₇H₁₅NO₃
- Molecular weight
- 161.2 g/mol
- Solubility
- Soluble in bacteriostatic water
- Shelf life
- 24 months from date of manufacture
L-Carnitine analytical verification and batch documentation
What the purity figure on this page is, who measured what, and which of the two a reader is looking at.
Specification. Every batch is released to >99% purity by HPLC. That is a threshold Volta sets, and it is a promise rather than a measurement.
Measurement. No certificate for this compound is published on the site yet. A batch-specific Certificate of Analysis is available on request, and the batch history lists the ones already published. Until one is published for this material, the figure above is the release specification and nothing on this page is a laboratory result.
Checking a certificate. The batch number printed beside the price is derived from the compound code and the vial strength; the lot number on a certificate is transcribed from the document. They are produced independently, so comparing them is a real check. How to read one is set out in the quality and testing methodology page.
For in-vitro laboratory research by qualified professionals only. Not for human or animal administration. Not a drug, food, cosmetic or dietary supplement. Not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate or prevent any disease.
Long-chain acyl-CoA cannot cross the inner mitochondrial membrane, so beta-oxidation depends entirely on the carnitine shuttle: CPT1 forms acylcarnitine on the outer membrane, a translocase moves it across, and CPT2 regenerates acyl-CoA inside. Carnitine availability is therefore a potential rate limiter on fatty acid oxidation, which is the premise behind most metabolic research using it. It also buffers the mitochondrial acyl-CoA to free CoA ratio, a second function that matters in substrate-overload models. This 5,000mg vial is the large presentation.
- Released to a >99% purity specification by HPLC
- Lyophilized powder, 5,000mg per vial
- Soluble in bacteriostatic water
- For laboratory research use only
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Related research materials
L-Carnitine 5000mg: what is in the vial
The arithmetic specific to this 5,000mg vial, and what a milligram of L-Carnitine costs in each strength the catalogue carries. Concentrations are stated, not recommended.
Vial contents
5,000 mg
Lyophilised powder, reconstituted by the buyer
Cost of material
$0.02 / mg USD
CA$0.03 / mg in Canadian dollars
Concentration at each diluent volume
5,000 mg of dry material reaches these concentrations in the volumes below. A U-100 syringe marking is 0.01 ml by definition, so the last column is a unit conversion at each concentration rather than a quantity to use.
| Diluent added | Concentration | In 0.1 ml | Per U-100 unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ml | 5,000 mg/ml | 500 mg | 50 mg |
| 2 ml | 2,500 mg/ml | 250 mg | 25 mg |
| 3 ml | 1,666.67 mg/ml | 166.67 mg | 16.67 mg |
| 5 ml | 1,000 mg/ml | 100 mg | 10 mg |
For a volume this table does not list, the reconstitution calculator takes any vial size and diluent volume.
L-Carnitine purity and identity: how the figure is measured
What >99% (HPLC) means, the masses an identity check has to land on, and the entries that make a certificate of analysis checkable rather than decorative.
Stated purity
>99% (HPLC)
Area percent of the main peak by reversed-phase HPLC
Average mass
161.2 g/mol
The figure an identity check has to land on
Identity by mass: the ions to expect
An electrospray source protonates the molecule rather than weighing it neutral, so a spectrum shows a series of charge states rather than the molecular weight itself. These are the m/z values 161.2 g/mol produces, and they are what a mass spectrum on a certificate for L-Carnitine has to match.
| Ion | Charge | Expected m/z |
|---|---|---|
| [M+H]+ | 1+ | 162.21 |
What a certificate for L-Carnitine should carry
A purity percentage on its own is not checkable. These are the entries that make one verifiable, and their absence is the most common weakness in a research-peptide certificate.
The chromatogram, not only the number
A stated area percent with no trace behind it cannot be read for the shape of the main peak or for what eluted beside it. The HPLC interpreter walks through what a trace shows.
Net peptide content, separately from gross mass
A lyophilised peptide is a salt, usually of trifluoroacetic or acetic acid, plus residual water. The vial's stated milligrams are gross; net peptide content is the fraction of that mass which is the molecule. The two differ by ten to twenty percent routinely, and only one of them is what the price is per milligram of. The net peptide content calculator converts between them.
The counterion, named
Which salt form the powder is in changes the net content and the pH the powder dissolves at. A certificate that never names it leaves both unknowable.
Water content, by a stated method
Loss on drying and Karl Fischer titration give different numbers, and a water figure with no method attached cannot be compared with anyone else's.
A laboratory and a report identifier
Without both, nothing on the document can be traced back to the laboratory that issued it. The red flag checker lists the rest.
Batch certificates are published as page images in the certificate library. The source PDFs are never served: a certificate is the most forgeable document a supplier publishes, and an editable copy carrying an accredited laboratory's letterhead is worth more to a counterfeiter than to a customer.
L-Carnitine storage and stability
Handling as the product record states it, followed by the degradation chemistry this particular sequence is and is not exposed to.
Handling
Store lyophilized peptide at -20°C in a dry, dark environment. Reconstitute in bacteriostatic water. Once reconstituted, store at 2-8°C and use within 30 days. Avoid repeated freeze-thaw cycles. Lyophilized powder is stable at room temperature for shipping and short-term storage.
A residue-level stability profile needs a primary sequence of standard amino acids. This compound's sequence carries modified or non-standard residues, so no finding is derived for it rather than one being estimated from a partial reading. The storage guide covers the general case.
L-Carnitine compared with 5-Amino-1MQ and Cagrilintide
Pharmacological class, half-life, evidence grade, competition status and cost per milligram, side by side.
| Compound | Class | Half-life | Evidence | WADA | Cheapest per mg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5-Amino-1MQ | Metabolic / Fat Loss | Unknown in humans; estimated hours based on animal PK | DAnimal/Preclinical Only | Not listed | $4.3010mg vial |
| Cagrilintide | Metabolic / Amylin Analog | ~7 days (allows once-weekly dosing) | BPhase III / NDA Filed | Not listed | $11.405mg vial |
| Retatrutide | Metabolic / Triple Agonist | ~6 days (allows once-weekly dosing) | BPhase III / NDA Filed | Not prohibited | $4.8520mg vial |
| Semaglutide | Metabolic / GLP-1 Agonist | ~160–168 hours (~7 days) | AFDA Approved | Not prohibited | $4.2020mg vial |
| Tirzepatide | Metabolic / Dual GIP-GLP-1 Agonist | ~5 days (116 hours) | AFDA Approved | Not prohibited | $2.9730mg vial |
Evidence grades and half-lives are as recorded in the compound database, which cites its own sources on each compound page. Per-milligram prices are the cheapest strength each compound is currently listed at, in US dollars, and an out-of-stock note means that figure is not purchasable today. Cross-trial comparisons of efficacy are not comparisons: no head-to-head trial exists for most of these pairs.
L-Carnitine in Canada
Price in Canadian dollars, where the parcel ships from, and how long it takes.
Price in CAD
CA$141
The figure charged, not a converted estimate
Ships from
British Columbia
A domestic parcel, so no import clearance step
Transit
2 to 5 business days
After 1 to 2 business days of handling
Free standard shipping
Over CA$250
A bar set for this market, not converted from the US one
L-Carnitine 5000mg ships from British Columbia to Canadian addresses, so the parcel never crosses a border. That removes the failure a Canadian buyer of research peptides is usually weighing: an inbound international shipment can be held for import clearance or seized, and a domestic one has no clearance step to be held at.
Shipping is quoted live against the delivery address at checkout rather than estimated here, and both the standard and express tiers show their price and transit window before a payment method is chosen. The figure the page shows is the figure the rail charges: all three settlement rails price shipping through the same functions the quote does.
The Canadian figure above is not a loose conversion. Each product's US dollar base is chosen so that the live conversion lands on the Canadian shelf price set for this market, and the result is pushed up to a whole dollar rather than left carrying cents, so one figure serves the page, the feed and every payment rail. See the shipping policy for carriers and cut-off times, and the legal position on research peptides in Canada for the regulatory picture.
L-Carnitine Mechanism of Action
L-carnitine is not a peptide. It is a quaternary ammonium compound derived from lysine and methionine, small, highly water-soluble and permanently charged, and it appears in this catalogue for commercial rather than chemical reasons. Its biochemistry is unusually well settled, which makes it easier to separate what it certainly does from what supplementation certainly achieves.
Its established function is the carnitine shuttle. Long-chain fatty acids cannot cross the inner mitochondrial membrane as acyl-CoA esters. Carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 on the outer membrane transfers the acyl group from CoA to carnitine, the resulting acylcarnitine crosses via the carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase, and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 2 on the inner face transfers it back to CoA for beta-oxidation. Without carnitine, long-chain fatty acids simply cannot be oxidised.
A second role follows from the first. By accepting acyl groups, carnitine buffers the mitochondrial acyl-CoA to free CoA ratio, exporting excess acyl groups as acylcarnitines. This matters in conditions where acyl-CoA accumulates, and it is why acylcarnitine profiling is a standard diagnostic tool in inherited fatty acid oxidation disorders. The mechanism is not in doubt. What is contested is whether adding more carnitine to a person who already has enough does anything useful.
CPT1 acyl transfer
Carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 on the outer mitochondrial membrane transfers a long-chain acyl group from CoA to carnitine, forming acylcarnitine. This is the rate-limiting step of fatty acid oxidation.
Translocase transport
The carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase moves acylcarnitine across the inner mitochondrial membrane in exchange for free carnitine.
CPT2 regeneration
Carnitine palmitoyltransferase 2 on the inner face transfers the acyl group back onto CoA, regenerating acyl-CoA inside the matrix for beta-oxidation and releasing free carnitine.
CoA buffering
By accepting acyl groups, carnitine maintains the ratio of free CoA to acyl-CoA and permits export of excess acyl groups as acylcarnitines.
Diagnostic corollary
Because acylcarnitine species reflect which oxidation step is blocked, acylcarnitine profiling is a standard tool for identifying inherited fatty acid oxidation and carnitine transport disorders.
L-Carnitine Research Findings
The supplementation literature is dominated by meta-analyses of small trials, so effect sizes are pooled rather than definitive. Each entry names what was actually measured.
Effects on obesity indices assessed across meta-analyses
An umbrella meta-analysis, meaning a synthesis of existing meta-analyses, examined the effect of supplementation on obesity indices. That design gives the broadest available view and also inherits the limitations of the trials underneath it.
ObservationalEffects on weight, glycaemic control and cardiovascular measures
A systematic review and meta-analysis examined weight loss, glycaemic control and cardiovascular risk factors together, which is the combination most often claimed for this compound.
ObservationalGlycaemic markers in women with overweight and obesity
A meta-analysis focused specifically on glycaemic markers in women with overweight and obesity, a narrower and therefore more interpretable population than the pooled analyses covering everyone.
ObservationalBlood pressure effects assessed systematically
A systematic review and meta-analysis examined the effect of supplementation on blood pressure in adults, an endpoint with objective measurement and less scope for reporting bias than symptom scales.
ObservationalSupplementation in critically ill patients with sepsis
A systematic review examined supplementation in critically ill patients with sepsis, a setting where carnitine depletion is plausible on mechanistic grounds rather than assumed from a general deficiency argument.
ObservationalEffects on osteoarthritis reviewed
A systematic review examined supplementation in osteoarthritis, extending assessment into an indication where the mechanistic rationale is considerably less direct than in metabolic settings.
ObservationalCarnitine cycle and transport disorders characterised diagnostically
Development and validation of a sequencing panel for carnitine cycle and transport disorders addressed the genuine deficiency states, which are inherited, rare and the setting where carnitine repletion is unambiguously indicated.
ObservationalRole in metabolic health and cardiovascular function reviewed
A review examined carnitine's role in metabolic health and cardiovascular function, collecting the mechanistic and clinical strands into one account of what the molecule does and where supplementation has been tested.
MechanisticL-Carnitine Molecular Information
| Class | Quaternary ammonium compound derived from lysine and methionine. Not a peptide |
| Molecular Formula | C7H15NO3 |
| Molecular Weight | 161.20 g/mol |
| CAS Number | 541-15-1 for L-carnitine |
| Stereochemistry | Only the L-enantiomer is biologically active. D-carnitine is an inhibitor |
| Charge | Permanently charged zwitterion, hence high water solubility and poor membrane permeability |
| Endogenous Synthesis | Synthesised in liver and kidney from lysine and methionine |
| Primary Function | Carnitine shuttle, transporting long-chain fatty acids into mitochondria |
| Oral Bioavailability | Low, commonly reported in the region of 15 percent for supplemental doses |
| Appearance | White crystalline, highly hygroscopic powder |
The Stereochemistry Is Not a Detail
Only L-carnitine is biologically active. D-carnitine is not merely inert: it competitively inhibits carnitine transport and the carnitine acyltransferases, so a racemic preparation is worse than a half-strength one because part of what it contains actively opposes the rest.
This is the reason the L prefix appears in the name of the product rather than being assumed, and it is the single most important thing a certificate for this compound should establish. Mass spectrometry cannot distinguish enantiomers, and neither can a standard reversed-phase HPLC purity method.
Confirming the L configuration requires chiral analysis, typically a chiral column or optical rotation measurement. A certificate reporting only mass and achiral purity has not established the property that determines whether the material works at all.
Deficiency Is Rare, and That Shapes the Whole Evidence Picture
Genuine carnitine deficiency is uncommon. It occurs in inherited disorders of the carnitine cycle and transport, in some dialysis populations, and secondary to certain drugs and metabolic conditions. In those settings repletion is unambiguously indicated and the effect is clear.
Most people synthesise carnitine adequately in liver and kidney from lysine and methionine and obtain more from diet. That is why the supplementation literature looks the way it does: many small trials in non-deficient populations, pooled into meta-analyses that report modest effects with wide confidence intervals.
The distinction to hold is between a nutrient that is essential, which carnitine is, and a supplement that helps people who already have enough, which is a separate and much weaker proposition. A mechanism being certain does not make supplementation effective.
Bioavailability Limits What Oral Dosing Can Achieve
Oral bioavailability of supplemental carnitine is low, commonly reported around 15 percent, and it falls further as the dose rises because the intestinal transporter saturates. Dietary carnitine from meat is absorbed far more efficiently than a large supplemental bolus.
The molecule is also permanently charged, which makes it very water-soluble and correspondingly poor at crossing membranes without a transporter. Tissue uptake, particularly into skeletal muscle, depends on the OCTN2 transporter rather than on plasma concentration alone, so raising blood carnitine does not straightforwardly raise muscle carnitine.
That transporter dependence is the usual explanation for why intervention studies often fail to change muscle carnitine content even when plasma concentration rises, and it is a more useful thing to know than any pooled effect size.
Handling and Analytical Considerations
L-carnitine is strongly hygroscopic. It draws water from the air readily enough that mass measurements on an unprotected sample drift, and a nominally dry powder can gain appreciable weight during handling in humid conditions. Sealed storage with desiccant is a functional requirement rather than a precaution.
As a small, permanently charged, non-chromophoric molecule it is also awkward to analyse by the methods used for peptides here. It has essentially no ultraviolet absorbance, so ultraviolet detection is unsuitable, and it is barely retained on reversed-phase columns. Appropriate methods use derivatisation, ion-pairing, hydrophilic interaction chromatography or mass spectrometric detection.
L-Carnitine Research FAQ
L-Carnitine in Summary
L-carnitine is a quaternary ammonium compound, not a peptide, whose established role is the carnitine shuttle that carries long-chain fatty acids into mitochondria for oxidation. That mechanism is settled and its diagnostic corollary, acylcarnitine profiling, is standard clinical practice.
Genuine deficiency is rare, so the supplementation literature is largely meta-analyses of small trials in people who already have enough, reporting modest pooled effects. Only the L-enantiomer is active and the D form inhibits, which achiral purity methods cannot detect.
Scientific References
Primary literature and public trial registries only. No supplier or retailer pages are cited.
- 1The Effect of L-Carnitine Supplementation on Obesity Indices: An Umbrella Meta-AnalysisHamedi-Kalajahi F, Zarezadeh M, et al. · International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research · 2025
- 2The Effects of L-Carnitine Supplementation on Weight Loss, Glycemic Control, and Cardiovascular Risk FactorsMirrafiei A, Jayedi A, et al. · Clinical Therapeutics · 2024
- 3Effects of carnitine supplementation on glycemic markers in women with overweight and obesityLiu H, Zhang H, et al. · Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice · 2025
- 4The Effects of L-Carnitine Supplementation on Blood Pressure in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-AnalysisAnaraki SR, Aali Y, et al. · Clinical Therapeutics · 2024
- 5The supplementation of L-carnitine in critically ill patients with sepsis: a systematic reviewMeng C, Ma Y, et al. · European Journal of Medical Research · 2024
- 6Effect of l-Carnitine Supplementation on Osteoarthritis: A Systematic ReviewKou H, Li B, et al. · Molecular Nutrition and Food Research · 2024
- 7Development and validation of a carnitine cycle and transport disorders panelAkan G, Balcı MC, et al. · Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases · 2025
- 8Carnitine: Its Crucial Role in Metabolic Health and Cardiovascular FunctionFredrick F, Aggarwal K, et al. · Journal of Dietary Supplements · 2025
Disclaimer
All articles and product information provided on this website are for informational and educational purposes only. The products offered on this website are furnished for in-vitro studies only. These products are not medicines or drugs and have not been approved by the FDA to prevent, treat or cure any medical condition, ailment or disease.
L-Carnitine 5000mg: frequently asked questions
Answered from the product record and the certificate file. Volta does not answer questions about administration, dosing or protocols.
What is supplied in a 5,000 mg vial of L-Carnitine?
A sealed single-use vial containing 5,000 mg of L-Carnitine as a lyophilized powder. Soluble in bacteriostatic water. No diluent, syringe or other supply is included.
Is L-Carnitine supplied for human use?
No. For in-vitro laboratory research by qualified professionals only. Not for human or animal administration. Not a drug, food, cosmetic or dietary supplement. Not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate or prevent any disease. Volta does not provide dosing, administration or protocol guidance for any material listed.
What purity is this L-Carnitine released to?
>99% by HPLC. That figure is a release specification, a threshold Volta sets for every batch, and it is not the same kind of statement as a purity measured by a named laboratory for a named lot.
Is there a certificate of analysis for this L-Carnitine vial?
A batch-specific Certificate of Analysis is available for this product on request. It is not published on the site yet: the batch history on the quality page lists the certificates already published, and this vial is covered by the release specification until its own is added there.
How is L-Carnitine identified?
CAS 541-15-1, molecular formula C₇H₁₅NO₃, molecular weight 161.2 g/mol. Those identifiers are what an incoming-goods check compares a certificate against, and they are stated here so the comparison can be made before ordering.
How should L-Carnitine be stored before reconstitution?
Store lyophilized peptide at -20°C in a dry, dark environment. Reconstitute in bacteriostatic water. Once reconstituted, store at 2-8°C and use within 30 days. Avoid repeated freeze-thaw cycles. Lyophilized powder is stable at room temperature for shipping and short-term storage.
Where does this ship from?
British Columbia, Canada. Canadian orders are domestic, so they clear no customs and pay no import duty. International orders ship from the same facility.
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