Cartalax

1 Identity

Short-chain bioregulators (Khavinson peptides). and sometimes written "Cartalax bioregulator". Not to be confused with Vesugen (KED), Chonluten (EDG) or Epitalon (AEDG).

Sequence

H-Ala-Glu-Asp-OH (AED). Three residues, all L, free N-terminal alpha-amino group, free C-terminal carboxyl, no disulfide, no acylation, no amidation, no non-proteinogenic residue. Three carboxyl groups (Glu2 side chain, Asp3 side chain, C-terminal Asp) against a single basic center, the N-terminal amine, so the molecule is strongly acidic. No aromatic residue and therefore NO 280 nm chromophore — which on this particular peptide is not a footnote but a positive identity test, for the reason given in the salt and variant note below. Supplied as the acetate or trifluoroacetate salt of the single amine.

Molecular formula

C12H19N3O8 (free acid). The formula and both masses in this record follow from the tripeptide composition rather than from a supplier declaration: for this class of peptides, formula, weight and CAS number are not independently verified in the public record. The arithmetic is exact; the residue order beneath it rests on a vendor catalog attribution, and those are two different kinds of knowledge.

Average mass

333.297 Da (C12H19N3O8). Listings commonly print 333.30 or "MW 333"; the formula gives 333.297, and on this molecule a rounded figure cannot separate the article from another one sold on the same page, for the reason set out in the salt and variant note.

Monoisotopic mass

333.1172 Da neutral. Working ions: [M+H]+ m/z 334.1245, [M-H]- m/z 332.1099, [M+Na]+ m/z 356.1064. A plus or minus 5 ppm window on the neutral is plus or minus 0.0017 Da. Negative mode is the sensible choice on a molecule with three carboxylates.

Salt / variant note

The principal risk on this molecule is A cross-family nominal-mass collision. Thymagen (also sold as Thymogen), the dipeptide Glu-Trp, is C16H19N3O5, 333.344 average / 333.13247 monoisotopic. Cartalax is C12H19N3O8, 333.297 average / 333.11721 monoisotopic. The two average masses differ by 0.047 Da and the two monoisotopic masses by 0.0153 Da — 46 ppm. A certificate printing "MW 333" or "333.3", or a mass from a single-quadrupole instrument, cannot distinguish cartalax from Thymagen, and both are sold as 20 mg vials by the same sellers from the same catalog page. The saving test is the chromophore: Thymagen contains tryptophan and absorbs strongly at 280 nm, Cartalax has no aromatic residue and absorbs not at all, so a 280 nm trace is a one-minute discriminator whose expected result here is no absorbance at all, and it must be run precisely because it is otherwise pointless on this peptide. Other variants: (1) sequence permutations — ADE, EAD, EDA, DAE and DEA are all C12H19N3O8 at exactly 333.11721 and are excluded only by MS/MS b/y assignment or Edman, not by mass and not by amino-acid analysis. (2) AEN and AQD, C12H20N4O7, 332.313 average / 332.13320 monoisotopic, minus 0.98 Da. (3) Chonluten EDG at 319.270 / 319.10156, minus 14.03 Da — one methylene, the Gly-for-Ala difference. (4) Epitalon AEDG at 390.349 / 390.13868, plus 57.05 Da — Cartalax with a glycine added, and therefore the exact species a failed final coupling would leave behind, or which a truncation from Epitalon synthesis would generate. (5) Vesugen KED 390.393 / 390.17506, which itself collides nominally with Epitalon at 390. Salt forms: one basic center, so counterion load is light, but on a 333 Da molecule one mole of trifluoroacetate is 25.5 percent of the article mass.

2 Class & testing panel

Form

Single article

Testing panel

P1 — panel definition

3 Primary sources & evidence

The index reports the design and provenance of the literature, not a conclusion about effect.

In vitro and rodent literature only, concentrated almost entirely in the publication network of the Saint Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, published largely in Russian-language journals and their English translations, with sparse independent replication by unaffiliated laboratories. The group-level literature: PMID 12374906 (review); PMID 31808038, DOI 10.1007/s12015-019-09938-8 (review, and the source of the class's verbatim mechanistic claim); PMID 11276315 (rat study); PMID 23734519 and PMID 24003726 (reviews by the originating group, the second being the principal source for the class's human claims and not a primary randomized trial); PMID 32593244 (review). No compound-specific ClinicalTrials.gov registration for Cartalax and no controlled human trial were identified. No marketing authorization in any jurisdiction. The class evidence is graded D. Sequence-specific DNA recognition by a tripeptide is not a mainstream position in molecular biology and has not been independently replicated — a statement about the state of the literature, not about the article.

4 Storage & specification

Storage

Lyophilized powder, -20 degrees C plus or minus 5 degrees C, desiccated with in-pack desiccant, protected from light. 2 to 8 degrees C is acceptable for transit and for working stock held no longer than 30 days; shipping validation covers a 72-hour excursion to 25 degrees C. Sealed vials are equilibrated to room temperature before opening, because on a 333 Da peptide condensation on cold solid moves the water figure enough to move the net peptide claim, and that claim is the label.

Shelf life

Provisional 24 months at -20 degrees C plus or minus 5 degrees C, assigned by protocol and not measured, pending the company's long-term and accelerated data on the first three lots. An all-L tripeptide with no disulfide, no methionine, no tryptophan and no aspartyl-glycine motif is expected to support the interval; the attributes to trend are water content and counterion, not gross purity. The label is shortened on data and never extended without a completed 24-month dataset.