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Plain-English glossary

Bacteriostatic water

Bacteriostatic water is sterile water containing roughly 0.9% benzyl alcohol, a preservative that inhibits bacterial growth and allows a reconstituted vial to be accessed multiple times in laboratory settings. In peptide research it is a common diluent for lyophilized powders because the benzyl alcohol suppresses microbial contamination across repeated handling of the same vial.

Plain-English glossary

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