Agmatine sulphate

Agmatine is 1-(4-aminobutyl)guanidine, the decarboxylation product of L-arginine and an intermediate in polyamine biosynthesis. The free base (CAS 306-60-5, C5H14N4, 130.19 g/mol) is a low-melting, strongly basic solid that is impractical to trade, so the article of commerce is the 1:1 sulphate salt: CAS 2482-00-0, C5H14N4·H2SO4, 228.27 g/mol, a white to off-white crystalline powder that decomposes at 234–238 °C, dissolves readily in water and is essentially insoluble in ethanol. The mass arithmetic is worth stating plainly, because it is where specifications go wrong. At 130.19 g/mol of base inside 228.27 g/mol of salt, agmatine sulphate is approximately 57 % agmatine by mass. A "99 % agmatine" figure on an offer sheet almost always means 99 % agmatine sulphate rather than 99 % agmatine base, and a finished label that carries the salt name against a base-equivalent number is a compliance problem waiting to surface. Ask for the assay to be stated explicitly as agmatine sulphate, and set out the conversion in writing if the finished label quotes base. Manufacturing runs either by chemical synthesis or, increasingly, by decarboxylating L-arginine with arginine decarboxylase in an enzymatic or whole-cell fermentation process, the arginine itself normally fermentation-derived from carbohydrate. Both routes are non-animal, so the ingredient is vegan and vegetarian with no milk, egg, soy, fish, crustacean, gluten, sesame or nut inputs. Note also that the counter-ion is sulphate, not sulphite, and must never be transcribed onto a finished label as a declarable sulphite — the two are regularly confused in artwork proofing. Two practical points close the picture. The powder is markedly hygroscopic: it clumps and can discolour on moisture pick-up, so it ships in foil laminate with desiccant and should be blended at low humidity alongside a glidant such as silicon dioxide. And the regulatory map is uneven — agmatine sulphate is a common ingredient in US sports nutrition, while in the EU it is treated as an unauthorised novel food and has drawn RASFF border notifications, so EU-destined business is not viable on the current position. Confirm status market by market before contracting.