Sigma-Aldrich Expands Analytical Portfolio with National Institute of Standards and Technology Standard Reference Materials

ST. LOUIS, June 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (NASDAQ: SIAL), a leading Life Science and Technology company, announced today that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has selected Sigma-Aldrich as the first licensed distributor of NIST Standard Reference Materials^® (SRMs). This agreement enables Sigma-Aldrich to further expand its global analytical product line and make NIST reference materials readily available to customers worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich and NIST will also collaborate to develop new Standard Reference Materials for quantitative Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (qNMR).

NIST's 1,300 Standard Reference Materials are used to perform instrument calibrations and measurement validation as part of overall quality assurance programs to verify the accuracy of specific measurements and to support the development of new measurement methods. Industry, academia, and government organizations use NIST SRMs to facilitate commerce and trade and to advance research and development.

"Sigma-Aldrich is excited to offer the NIST SRM portfolio to the global scientific community. The addition of these reference materials supports our strategy to augment our offering with products that accelerate customers' confidence in analytical data," said Trevor Jones, Vice President of Analytical Business at Sigma-Aldrich. "Adding the SRM portfolio to our web-based marketplace offers customers convenient access to a comprehensive range of products for the entire analytical workflow."

"Our agreement with Sigma-Aldrich will enable scientists around the globe to more easily access NIST SRMs," said Robert Watters, Associate Director for Measurement Services at the NIST Material Measurement Laboratory. "It has not always been easy to reach all scientists in countries outside the U.S., but with Sigma-Aldrich's web catalog and global distribution network we have found an optimal way to serve our global clients."

The NIST reference materials portfolio is expected to be available from Sigma-Aldrich in the third quarter of 2015. Sigma-Aldrich will launch a dedicated area on its website where customers will have direct access to the portfolio of products with complete product technical information.

NIST and Sigma-Aldrich also signed a research and development agreement for the development of a series of primary reference materials used for qNMR. Both partners will combine their analytical expertise and technical resources to purify and certify these new NIST Standard Reference Materials.

"NIST will implement multiple primary methods and statistically-sound data combination approaches for quantity value assignments to establish higher-order metrological traceability for qNMR measurements," said Katrice Lippa, Scientific Advisor for the Chemical Sciences Division of NIST.

"The qNMR method is widely implemented for purity determination of organic compounds and for method validation, whereby primary reference materials will provide the topmost component of traceability for instrument calibration. The new primary calibrators for qNMR will close a gap in the SI traceability chain and increase the reliability and measurement quality for many industries," said Michael Weber, Director for Marketing and R&D at Sigma-Aldrich.

For more information on Sigma-Aldrich's Analytical comprehensive standards portfolio, visit the new standards web portal http://www.sigma-aldrich.com/standards.

About Sigma-Aldrich:  Sigma-Aldrich, a leading Life Science and Technology company focused human health and safety, manufactures and distributes 250,000 chemicals, biochemicals and other essential products to more than 1.4 million customers globally in research and applied labs as well as in industrial and commercial markets.  With three distinct business units - Research, Applied and SAFC Commercial - Sigma-Aldrich is committed to enabling science to improve the quality of life.  The Company operates in 37 countries, has approximately 9,300 employees worldwide and had sales of $2.79 billion in 2014.  For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its website at www.sigma-aldrich.com.

Sigma-Aldrich and Sigma are trademarks of Sigma-Aldrich Co, LLC registered in the US and other countries. Standard Reference Material is a registered trademark of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

SOURCE Sigma-Aldrich Corporation

Related Links

http://www.sigma-aldrich.com