Laboratory Bottles

Access premium laboratory bottles from our range of over 3,000 containers and closures. Our lab bottles portfolio includes clear or amber Type I borosilicate or Type III soda-lime glass. In addition, we offer plastic bottles in HDPE, PP, LDPE or PET in a wide range of sizes to suit most user applications. Through our innovations, we support your efforts at making meaningful advancements in the life sciences, from the development of borosilicate glass over 100 years ago to our latest designs, such as YOUTILITY® (our ergonomic laboratory bottles) and DURAN® TILT.

Standout Lab Staples

Because we think of media and lab bottles as the unsung heroes of most chemistry, life science, and industrial laboratories, we offer a wide variety of shapes, materials, sizes, and cap types to meet a range of needs. These multi-functional containers are suited for multiple scientific applications, including:

  • Filtration
  • Frozen storage
  • Heating and cooling samples
  • Liquid handling and dispensing
  • Long-term archival storage
  • Media and reagent preparation
  • Media sterilization
  • Microbial culturing
  • Mixing
  • Preparation of bulk intermediates
  • Sample collection
  • Sample storage
  • Shipping and transport
  • Shipping of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)
  • Sterile media storage
  • Tissue culturing

Our history of creating high-quality products

Our first borosilicate glass lab bottles evolved from serum bottles and were available with various Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) threads, such as 33-430 and 38-430. In Germany in 1972, we introduced the wider mouth borosilicate 3.3 glass bottles with metric GL 45 glass threads. Our history of innovation progressed alongside the evolution of the laboratory media bottles, where we introduced square lab bottles, pressure-resistant versions, and the truly wide-mouth GLS 80® bottles.

Today, we offer a wide range of reliable and reusable glass lab bottles with commonly used thread finishes, such as the GPI and German DIN GL thread standards. We mold our DURAN® ORIGINAL, WHEATON®, and KIMBLE® KIMAX® GL lab bottles from high-purity, clear, USP / EP Type I borosilicate 3.3 glass, renowned for its excellent thermal qualities and superior resistance to chemical attack. A combination of high-performance materials, robust ISO 4796-1 design, and reusability provide a long working life. The bottles feature an easy-to-read graduated volume scale and marking field in permanent white enamel.

For convenience, a circular indent on the shoulder line indicates the nominal capacity line on 100mL through 2L sizes. We supply the DURAN®, WHEATON®, and KIMBLE® KIMAX® bottles as bottles only or, if you prefer, complete with the polypropylene linerless caps and drip-free pouring rings. The DURAN® Original GL 25/32/45 bottles feature a permanent Retrace Code on each bottle for manufacturing lot traceability and certification.

Choose the materials option that best suits your application

We provide clear glass, protect+, or KimCote® plastic safety-coated glass, and amber or low actinic RAY-SORB® for light-sensitive applications. Many of the DURAN®, WHEATON®, and KIMBLE® GL lab bottles are available with a clear plastic safety coating (identifiable by the DURAN® protect+ or KimCote® branding) to provide added fortification against impact or mechanical breakage. Adding a fused, external amber or RAY-SORB® layer protects light-sensitive contents from the effects of photodegradation. Rest assured, the protection against ultraviolet (UV) light meets international USP / EP standards and lasts the bottle's lifetime.

The KIMBLE® KIMAX® lab bottles have 33-430 and 38-430 threads. We make them from high-purity, clear, USP / EP Type I borosilicate glass 33, renowned for their excellent thermal performance and high resistance to chemical attack.

Save up to 20% more space and get close and efficient packing compared to traditional round bottles when you use our innovative square DURAN® lab bottles. These bottles are ideal for shipping and storing high-demand materials or reagent supply to instruments where bench space is at a premium.

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Note that the design of standard glass lab bottles does not allow them to withstand pressure differentials safely. However, the DURAN® pressure plus+ GL 45 bottles offer a safer option for laboratory vacuum or pressure applications. The bottom line? Whatever the application, DWK Life Sciences can provide a suitable laboratory bottle solution.

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DWK Life Sciences offers a comprehensive product range of precision closure systems for laboratory bottles and jars, starting with high-quality standard screw caps and closures appropriate for various scientific applications. Our product offering also includes:

  • Caps made of high-performance materials for demanding applications
  • Connection systems
  • Drip-free pouring rings
  • Identification aids
  • Special closures for sterilization processes
  • Tamper-evident closures
  • Transportation accessories

We also offer caps and fluid transfer caps to fit different laboratory bottle glass and plastic thread finishes, such as GPI, Society of the Plastics Industry (S.P.I.), ISO and ASTM specifications, and European DIN GL 25/32/45 and GLS 80 wide-mouth thread standards.

For laboratory, industrial, medical and pharmaceutical environments, we provide a broad selection of caps and closures from our KIMBLE® product portfolio.

For an even more comprehensive range of applications, we recommend closures from our WHEATON® product portfolio comprising caps, seals, and stoppers to ensure a perfect fit for your container.

To assist with laboratory organization, our selection of dedicated accessories works perfectly with the DURAN® laboratory bottles and are available to enable practical color coding, product labeling, and identification. Screw caps and pouring rings are fully compatible with DIN GL bottle threads, and most are reusable and long-lasting, just like the DURAN® bottles. Screw caps conforming to USP Class VI requirements are ideal for demanding industrial packaging applications in the pharmaceutical industry.

To reduce the risk of contamination, we offer robust and durable DURAN® tubing connection systems that allow for the easy transfer of liquids in and out of bottles under controlled conditions. Connector elements are also available for probes and stirrers. We recommend sterile venting membrane caps for sterilizing microbiology media. These components improve the safety and ease-of-use of the laboratory bottles during autoclaving and protect the media from contamination.

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Whether you need to store solid, liquid, or powder samples, you can rely on our glass and plastic serum bottles to meet your needs. Our bottles are available in a wide range of sizes and offer high durability and compatibility for your research. The serum bottles are available in various neck finishes that accommodate serum bottle stoppers, standard laboratory rubber stoppers, crimp top caps, or vial seals. Molded Type I borosilicate glass serum bottles are designed especially for handling and storing samples that require inert and resistant glass.

Glass serum bottles are suitable for handling, containing, and storing various liquids, including reagents, injectable drugs, vaccines, blood plasma, culture media, and chromatography samples. Amber glass serum bottles that meet the requirements of USP <660> and EP 3.2.1 for protection against UV light for sensitive materials are also available.

Smaller WHEATON® glass serum bottles are excellent for the lyophilization (freeze-drying) of biopharma products and for vaccine or injectable primary packaging solutions in the IVD diagnostic and pharmaceutical market. They are equally well suited for short- or long-term sample storage. For your convenience, WHEATON® graduated serum bottles have raised graduations that indicate approximate capacities in milliliters.

WHEATON® plastic serum bottles are a popular alternative to glass serum bottles as they are impact-resistant and lightweight. You can use them to store non-medical and animal health products, especially diluent solutions.

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Run your lab more efficiently with our general purpose lab bottles and jars that help to simplify your workflow. You can store, mix, or dispense your samples in the same container, saving you time and hassle. We offer a comprehensive portfolio of WHEATON®, KIMBLE®, and DWK Life Sciences general purpose laboratory containers and closures. These products are made from borosilicate and soda-lime glass, and plastics. You can choose whether you want the containers to come with or without attached caps, and we have an assortment of compatible caps and liners.

We provide customization to meet your specific needs, including pre-cleaning and individual barcoding. We’re also happy to offer flexibility on quantities — from small cases of containers to large bulk packs.

At DWK Life Sciences, we can help with polymer selection once we have discussed your requirements. We understand that polymers offer many different properties, each having varying levels of importance with users depending on the application. Our plastic containers are made from various polymer types to meet the demands of many laboratory and scientific applications. We offer autoclavable, transparent, pre-sterilized containers, and other specifications to meet your requirements.

Our general purpose lab bottles are available in clear or amber glass in many shapes and sizes, each with corresponding primary benefits. Cylindrical, round bottles like Boston rounds are robust and durable, while French square/tablet bottles are stackable to maximize storage space. We manufacture the bottles from either borosilicate USP Type I glass or soda-lime glass that conforms to USP Type III requirements. Amber glass helps protect UV light-sensitive samples even over long-term storage periods.

We offer various neck finishes — from narrow to wide mouth — to meet your needs. Narrow-mouth bottles are ideal for liquids, whereas wide-mouth bottles are better suited for dry or viscous samples. Some of our general purpose laboratory containers are available with graduations, such as the Valumetric™ graduated bottles, which have both mL and ounces indicators.

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For applications where safety is paramount, we recommend you choose one of our glass lab bottles with Plastisol safety coating.

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Dropping bottles offer a reliable alternative to pipetting devices. They allow for the repeated, consistent, and accurate dispensing of reagents one drop at a time or in a stream. The glass dropping bottles, made of either borosilicate or soda-lime glass, are durable and reusable. The amber glass droppers offer UV protection, making them ideal for light-sensitive materials. The glass bottles have a removable glass pipette with a rubber teat, while the plastic bottles have a squeezable dropper control tip.

Our WHEATON® dropping bottles have excellent chemical resistance and extended controlled dropping tips, making them ideal for laboratory reagent dispensing, biotech, and diagnostic packaging applications. The extended controlled dropping tips dispense reliable, repeatable, and uniform drop sizes, one drop at a time. The dropper control tip provides a leak-proof seal as it snaps securely into place. You can easily dispense single drops of the contained liquid by squeezing the flexible bottle with the tip pointing downwards.

WHEATON® dropping bottles are available in natural and white polyethylene and are suitable for dispensing most acids, bases, and alcohols. Plastic dropping bottles are available in different sizes so that you have the appropriate volume to hand for your application. Dropper closures in different colors are available for reagent identification.

Both borosilicate and soda-lime glass dropping bottles are chemically resistant and reusable. We manufacture KIMBLE® dropping bottles from clear or amber soda-lime glass. While most dropper bottles are for general purpose use, some are appropriate for specific standardized tests. For example, the KIMBLE® clear dropping bottles have a unique design that helps to determine pigment oil absorption (ASTM D281).

Amber glass droppers protect against UV rays, making them fit for light-sensitive materials. KIMBLE® amber glass dropping bottles feature a polypropylene screw cap with a rubber bulb that is excellent for storing and dispensing light-sensitive chemicals. A partial turn of the ground glass stopper delivers indicator solutions drop by drop.

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We use borosilicate or soda-lime glass to make reagent bottles, a staple in chemistry and pharmaceutical labs. You can utilize them to store liquids, solid chemicals, and reagents. Our borosilicate Type I glass reagent bottles are especially fitting for air-sensitive environmental sampling, pharmaceutical API storage, handling, and shipping. The bottles have narrow necks and angled shoulders to facilitate the smooth pouring of liquids. The wider neck versions are more convenient for handling granules, viscous liquids, or powders.

Our ground glass stoppers provide an excellent tight seal to protect the contents from evaporation, oxidation, and contamination. Traditional glass stoppered reagent bottles are autoclavable at 121 or 134 °C or dry heat sterilized. We supply polyethylene or PTFE standard taper stoppers as an alternative to glass stoppers.

The wide- and narrow-necked versions of the DURAN® ISO 4796-2 reagent bottles are available in clear and amber borosilicate 3.3 Type I glass. These bottles make labeling easy because of the marking field in permanent white enamel and printed Retrace Code for manufacturing lot traceability and certification. The amber glass protects light-sensitive contents from the effects of photo-degradation. The amber glass protection against UV light meets USP <660> and EP 3.2.1 standards and lasts the bottle's lifetime.

We supply KIMAX® solution bottles with a color-coded PTFE flathead stopper. The KIMAX® Solution narrow-mouth glass lab bottles are available with KimCote® safety coating to reduce hazards of shattered glass, leakage, or loss of valuable or hazardous contents. We also provide DURAN® unground neck reagent and KIMAX® unground neck solution bottles. You can order the conical unground neck for microbiology applications with cotton plugs, rubber, sponge, cellulose, or foam stoppers.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The brown bottle commonly seen in a chemistry lab is called an amber bottle or an amber glass bottle. Amber-colored glass protects light-sensitive substances from degradation caused by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light (within the 290 - 450 nm wavelength range). Amber bottles commonly store light-sensitive chemicals that can undergo degradation or photochemical reactions in the presence of UV light.

The capacity markings on the lab bottles indicating capacity have a tolerance level of either ± 5% or ± 10%. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) number 4796-1:2016 does not state any nominal capacity or graduations tolerance. Because the bottles are not certified or sold as “volumetric measurement devices,” the capacity indicators should only be used as a general guide.

You can identify the nominal value by reading it off the bottle. We’ve marked the total (working/nominal) capacity as a circular indent in the "shoulder ring" of the GL bottle. This arrangement is specified in the ISO standard 4796-1:2000, "Laboratory glassware -- Bottles -- Part 1: Screw-neck bottles".

Laboratory bottles are generally not ideal for use under pressure or vacuum. However, for pressure or vacuum applications that require laboratory bottles, we recommend the DURAN® pressure plus+ protect bottle range, or the DURAN® pressure plus+ amber bottle range. Remember that the plastic coating of laboratory bottles, such as DURAN® protect or KimCote®, does not influence pressure resistance, and safety-coated products are not designed for use under pressure.

No. Only bottles manufactured from polypropylene can be autoclaved.

The maximum permissible operating temperature for a borosilicate glass lab bottle is +500 °C when used for a short time – less than 10 hours. Above a temperature of +525 °C, the glass begins to soften, and above a temperature of +860 °C, the glass changes to a liquid state.

The starting point is a clear borosilicate 3.3 glass bottle. The bottle then undergoes a unique ion diffusion process, creating an amber layer on the glass bottle with good chemical durability.

The amber DURAN® meets the requirements of USP <671> and Eur.Ph. 3.2.1. for protection against ultraviolet (UV) light. KIMBLE® RAY-SORB® meets the requirements of USP <671> EP 3.2.1. and JP 7.01 Section 5 for protection against UV light.

None of the standard plastic or glass laboratory bottles have been designed or tested with a centrifuge. However, the KIMAX® 200mL heavy-duty glass centrifuge bottles made by DWK Life Sciences are suitable for centrifuging.

Glass is much more corrosion-resistant than most materials. Borosilicate glass 3.3 is highly resistant to water, acids, saline solutions, organic substances, and halogens such as chlorine, and bromine. Its resistance to alkali is relatively high. However, only concentrated hydrofluoric acid, phosphoric acid, and strong alkalis at high temperatures (+100 °C) can cause appreciable surface removal of the glass (i.e., glass corrosion).

Both the DURAN® protect, and the KimCote® plastic-coated bottles can be autoclaved or steam-sterilized at 121 °C (20 minutes). In addition, the DURAN® protect bottles can be autoclaved at 134 °C. Dry heat resistance is 110 °C KimCote®, and 135 °C DURAN® protect. Please note that the temperature resistance only applies for short-time exposure of less than 30 minutes.

Recycling suitability depends on the type or chemical composition of the glass. Soda-lime bottles, for example, can be recycled at a standard facility.

However, you should not dispose of borosilicate laboratory glass bottles (DURAN® / WHEATON® /KIMBLE® KIMAX®) in normal bottle banks. This is because their high melting point can create problems when mixed with other glass cullet (soda-lime glass) for recycling. Instead, the customer is responsible for correct disposal, which is with the general household waste (residual waste) following the relevant guidelines and regulations.

Setting up a dedicated recycling system only for borosilicate glass types is not economical. Its market is relatively small, typically consisting of laboratory glassware, some special lighting products, and glass cookware.