Melanocortin & Tone
Melanin Production Studies
Quantity
Ships from the United States with tracking · free shipping over $200
Certificates of analysis
Each certificate covers one production run, and reports on that batch alone. Open any of them to read the laboratory report exactly as the third-party lab issued it.
Authenticity
Scan the code on the label to pull up every published certificate for that compound — the same reports the third-party laboratory issued, batch by batch. Traceable from the laboratory that tested it to your bench.
Verify a batch →Independently tested
Purity is quantified by reverse-phase HPLC and identity confirmed by mass spectrometry, by an outside laboratory rather than in-house.
A certificate for your lot
The report that ships with your order describes the batch you received — not the product line, and not a representative sample.
COA-backed replacement
If material does not match the certificate issued for its lot, we replace it or refund it. Send us the lot number and we will trace it.
Tracked dispatch
Tracking is issued when the label is created, so the shipment is traceable from the moment it leaves us.
About this compound
C50H69N15O9
Melanotan II is a cyclic analogue of alpha-MSH. Closing the linear hormone into a ring markedly increases its stability and receptor affinity, but the cyclisation also costs selectivity: it engages several melanocortin receptors rather than one. Research covers both pigmentation endpoints and the broader melanocortin system.
Full specification
How it works
The pathways Melanotan II acts on, and what each one does. Signalling described from preclinical models.
Melanocyte Stimulation & Pigmentation
MC1R activation on melanocytes drives melanin synthesis. This is the endpoint the compound is named for and the one with the clearest dose relationship behind it.
Central Appetite & Arousal Pathways
MC4R sits in the hypothalamus rather than the skin, and engaging it produces effects unrelated to pigmentation — which is how a compound developed for one endpoint came to be studied for several.
Non-Selective Pan-MC Agonism
Cyclisation bought stability at the cost of selectivity: the molecule engages the melanocortin family broadly rather than one subtype. In research terms that breadth is a confound, not a feature.
Uses & applications
The main areas under study, and the study-reported figures behind them.
MC1R activation on melanocytes is the clearest dose-response relationship the compound has.
Dorr et al. 1996
MC4R sits in the hypothalamus, and engaging it produces metabolic endpoints unrelated to pigmentation.
Fan et al. 1997
Central melanocortin signalling is studied for behavioral endpoints, the same pathway a more selective analogue was later developed around.
Wessells et al. 1998
Non-selectivity makes it a blunt but useful probe of the receptor family as a whole.
Sawyer et al. 1993
What the published work measures
The endpoints reported across the literature for this compound. The figures belong to the individual papers, not to us.
Molecular structure
A computed low-energy conformer built from this compound's published connectivity and stereochemistry, paired with its verified reference values.
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74 atoms
74 atoms, 78 bonds, C50H69N15O9. Connectivity and stereochemistry from PubChem CID 92432. The arrangement is one computed low-energy conformer, not a measured structure — a flexible peptide adopts many conformations in solution. Hydrogens omitted for legibility.
C50H69N15O9
Third-party verified
Every batch of Melanotan II is sent to an accredited independent laboratory before it ships. Here is what we screen for.
Quantifies purity and reports it on the lot certificate
Verifies the exact molecular identity
Lead, arsenic, cadmium & mercury
Bacterial endotoxin levels
No microbial contamination
Actual peptide mass per vial verified
FAQ
Melanotan II is a cyclic analogue of alpha-MSH. Closing the linear hormone into a ring markedly increases its stability and receptor affinity, but the cyclisation also costs selectivity: it engages several melanocortin receptors rather than one. Research covers both pigmentation endpoints and the broader melanocortin system.
Published research on Melanotan II concentrates on Melanogenesis Research, Appetite & Metabolic Research, Arousal Pathway Models and Melanocortin System Probing. Each of those areas is summarised further up this page with the citation it comes from, and the full reference list — 4 indexed publications — sits at the bottom. Study designs and concentrations vary considerably between publications, so the primary sources are worth reading directly.
The literature describes Melanotan II acting across Melanocyte Stimulation & Pigmentation, Central Appetite & Arousal Pathways and Non-Selective Pan-MC Agonism, reported respectively as MC1R Agonism, MC4R Agonism and Receptor Selectivity. Those pathways are drawn from preclinical models rather than clinical work, and they describe what has been observed rather than a settled mechanism — the individual pathway cards above cite what each one is based on.
Melanotan II has a molecular formula of C50H69N15O9, an average mass of 1024.18 g/mol and the sequence Ac-Nle-cyclo[Asp-His-D-Phe-Arg-Trp-Lys]-NH₂. It is indexed under CAS Melanotan II (MTII). It ships as lyophilized powder. Those are nominal reference values for the parent compound. The identity of the specific material you receive is confirmed by mass spectrometry and reported on that lot's certificate.
Store the sealed vial at -20°C, protected from light and moisture, and let it reach room temperature before opening so condensation does not form on cold powder. Melanotan II is water or bacteriostatic water; reconstitute by directing the diluent down the vial wall rather than onto the powder, then swirl to dissolve rather than shaking. Keep reconstituted solution refrigerated and avoid repeated freeze-thaw cycles — solutions are far less stable than lyophilized powder.
No. Melanotan II is supplied strictly for in-vitro laboratory research and development. It is not a drug, food, supplement or cosmetic, it has not been evaluated by the FDA, and it is not intended for human or animal consumption, ingestion, injection or any in-vivo use. Ordering confirms you are a qualified researcher or institution purchasing on that basis.
Cited sources
Independent published research indexed from PubMed and peer-reviewed journals — not Routine Peptides claims.
For research use only
Not for human or veterinary use. For in-vitro laboratory research only. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA; this product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Sold exclusively to qualified researchers and institutions.
Before you order
Every production run is analyzed by an independent laboratory, and the certificate for your lot travels with the order — not a catalog-wide document, and not a summary written by us.
