Ipamorelin: A Research Primer

Ipamorelin is a synthetic pentapeptide, five amino acids with the sequence Aib-His-D-2-Nal-D-Phe-Lys-NH2. In pharmacological terms it is classed as a selective growth hormone secretagogue and a ligand for the ghrelin receptor. That is the identity. This primer covers the molecule, the numbers on the label, the research field the name turns up in, and how the material is handled and tested. It does not cover use, because a reagent primer has no use to describe.

What Ipamorelin is

Ipamorelin is a short, fully synthetic peptide. Five residues, capped at the C-terminus as an amide, which is the "-NH2" at the end of the sequence. Unlike a peptide such as GHK, it is not a copy of anything the body makes. Two of its residues are not standard amino acids at all. Aib is alpha-aminoisobutyric acid, a non-proteinogenic building block, and D-2-Nal is the D-form of 2-naphthylalanine. D-Phe is the mirror image of ordinary phenylalanine. Those non-natural residues are deliberate. A chain built partly from D-amino acids and synthetic units is a different object from one built only out of the standard twenty, and it is the reason the molecule cannot be described as a fragment of any human protein.

Its pharmacological label is growth hormone secretagogue, and more specifically a ghrelin-receptor ligand. That is a statement about which family the molecule belongs to, the same way "copper peptide" classifies GHK-Cu. It tells you which receptor class the compound is grouped with. It does not tell you what any experiment reported.

The chemistry on the label

The identity data is the part that does not change from one supplier to the next, so it is the first thing to check against a certificate.

• CAS number: 170851-70-4
• Molecular formula: C38H49N9O5
• Molecular weight: 711.86 g/mol
• Sequence: Aib-His-D-2-Nal-D-Phe-Lys-NH2 (five residues, C-terminal amide)
• Class: selective growth hormone secretagogue, ghrelin-receptor ligand

A trade name or an abbreviation can be written several ways and a formula can be mistyped. A CAS registry number cannot. When you cross-check a supplier's identity claim against a COA, match the CAS number first and the sequence second. One detail is worth flagging. Because the peptide ends in an amide rather than a free acid, the formula carries an extra nitrogen where a plain carboxyl terminus would sit. If a mass figure looks off by a small amount, confirm you are comparing against the amidated form and not a free-acid calculation. That is usually where the discrepancy is hiding.

Where it appears in the research literature

Ipamorelin appears in the endocrinology literature, filed under growth hormone secretagogues. That is a subject heading, not a summary of anything found under it.

I am naming a field, nothing more. This primer does not report what any of that work concluded, because the line between naming a research area and describing an outcome is exactly the line a compound primer stays behind. If you want the actual studies, the sequence and the CAS number above are the search terms that pull the primary sources faster than any brand name will.

One note on naming that comes up a lot. Ipamorelin is sometimes co-formulated with [CJC-1295 (no DAC)](/products/cjc-1295-no-dac) and sold as a [physical blend](/products/cjc-1295-ipamorelin). The two are different kinds of molecule. CJC-1295 (no DAC) is a modified GRF(1-29), a GHRH analog running 29 residues long. Ipamorelin is a five-residue ghrelin-receptor ligand. They are indexed under the same broad endocrinology heading, but they sit in different structural and pharmacological classes, and a blend is just the two separate compounds sharing a vial. It is not a new molecule and it has no CAS number of its own.

How it is supplied and handled

Ipamorelin is supplied lyophilized, meaning freeze-dried to a dry solid. Store it at -20C and keep it out of light. Peptides ship as a dry cake because a solid survives transit far better than a solution does, and the material holds up well as long as the vial stays cold, sealed, and dry. Limit its exposure to moisture and to repeated temperature swings. As with most freeze-dried peptides there is usually a small amount of bulking agent in the vial so there is something visible to work with, and a proper certificate accounts for that filler in the stated mass. None of that is preparation guidance. It is how you store a reagent.

How each lot is tested

Every lot gets its own third-party certificate of analysis. Two tests carry the weight. Mass spectrometry confirms the molecule is the one on the label, and HPLC measures how much of the sample is the target peptide versus related impurities, read at 220 nm, the standard wavelength for the peptide bond. Our lots go to independent labs, including independent third-party laboratories, and the full per-lot PDF is published on each batch page alongside the [Ipamorelin product listing](/products/ipamorelin).

If you have not read one of these documents before, we wrote a walkthrough on [how to read a peptide COA](/research/how-to-read-a-peptide-coa) using two real reports, plus a broader [checklist for buying research peptides in Canada](/research/buying-research-peptides-canada) covering what else to confirm before you order. A primer tells you what a compound is. The certificate tells you whether the vial in front of you matches. Kits Peptides ships tracked from Vancouver, BC across Canada.

*All products are supplied as laboratory reagents for research use only. Not for human or veterinary use.*