"A practical supplier guide to creatine monohydrate powder (CAS 6020-87-7). Covers what the material is, how buyers formulate with it, solubility and handling notes, and what to verify before choosing a source."
-Deshangchemical-chemechemi
Creatine Monohydrate (CAS 6020-87-7): The Bulk Powder That Built the Sports Nutrition Aisle
Walk into any supplement warehouse and you will find one ingredient sitting on the shelf in greater tonnage than almost anything else: creatine monohydrate. It carries the CAS number 6020-87-7, the molecular formula C4H11N3O3, and a molecular weight of 149.15. At Deshang we move it as a white crystalline powder, packed in 25 kg drums, and it remains the single most re-ordered raw material from our sports-nutrition and contract-manufacturing customers. This is a short, practical look at what the material is, how buyers actually use it, and what to check before you lock in a supplier.
What the powder actually is
Creatine monohydrate is the hydrated form of creatine, a nitrogen-containing compound the body already makes from glycine, arginine, and methionine. Most buyers know it by its synonyms: N-guanyl-N-methylglycine, N-amidinosarcosine monohydrate, or simply creatine. The hydrated version is the stable, shelf-friendly form that dominates the market, and it is listed under EINECS 611-954-8. In its pure state it is an odorless white crystal that dissolves slowly in water, which is why finished-product teams put real thought into how they suspend or solubilize it.
The number that matters most on a spec sheet is the assay. Reputable food- and supplement-grade material runs at 99.5% or higher on a dried basis, with losses on drying held in a tight band to reflect the controlled single water molecule of hydration. If a supplier's "monohydrate" shows an assay well above 100% or a moisture figure that does not add up, that is a flag worth pausing on before you sign.
Why formulators keep buying it
Creatine's job in the body is straightforward: it helps regenerate ATP, the energy currency of muscle cells, during short, high-intensity effort. That mechanism is decades old and has been studied more heavily than almost any other sports ingredient, which is exactly why buyers trust it. For a brand, that means lower education cost with consumers and a shorter path to repeat orders.
The practical applications break down into three buckets. The first is the obvious one: pre-workout and post-workout powders, capsules, and tablets built around strength and power output. The second is the broader sports-nutrition category, where creatine is blended with proteins, amino acids, and carbohydrate systems. The third is newer but growing: functional food and beverage formats that lean on creatine for a performance-positioned claim rather than a pill.
When a formula needs a flavor system that masks the slightly bitter, metallic edge of a high-creatine blend, many of our customers turn to ethyl maltol (CAS 4940-11-8). It is a high-purity flavor enhancer that carries a sweet, caramel-like note and does the heavy lifting in fruit and cream profiles without competing with the active.
Building a complete nutrition line around it
Creatine rarely ships alone. A contract manufacturer putting together a sports line usually sources a small cluster of compatible raw materials from the same vendor to keep paperwork and logistics in one place. A prebiotic fiber such as konjac glucomannan (CAS 37220-17-0) is a frequent companion, both for gut-health positioning and for the texture it brings to ready-to-mix systems. It is a food-grade thickener, so it pulls double duty in bars and beverage formats.
For houses that also run a recovery or cosmetic-adjacent SKU, a bulk peptide raw material like GHK-Cu copper peptide (CAS 49557-75-7) sits naturally in the same catalog, since both are supplied as sealed white or near-white powders with similar cold-chain and moisture-control expectations. And when a customer's R&D team starts working on amino-acid or peptide derivatives, the protecting-group reagent di-tert-butyl dicarbonate, or Boc anhydride (CAS 24424-99-5) is the next logical raw material to source through the same channel.
Handling, solubility, and production notes
Creatine monohydrate is stable at room temperature and not especially fussy, but it does have a few behaviors worth respecting on the production floor. It is only sparingly soluble in cold water, around 1.4 g per 100 mL, and solubility rises with temperature. That is why many finished-product lines use a micronized grade or a warm-mix step when they need a clear solution. It also breaks down toward acidity under heat and in strongly acidic conditions, so a formulation team that wants a long shelf life keeps the pH in a moderate range and avoids prolonged high-heat exposure.
On the line, the usual watch items are moisture and cross-contamination. Keep the drums sealed until use, weigh out under low-humidity conditions where possible, and rotate stock so older lots move first. We ship in sealed 25 kg drums and can support custom pack sizes and repacking through our warehouse service, which saves smaller brands from splitting bulk containers by hand.
What to verify before you buy
The questions buyers should ask are the same ones we expect: what is the actual assay on the batch, what does the QC report show before shipment, and can a third party confirm it. Those are fair asks, and we provide quality-control documentation ahead of delivery and accept third-party inspection. Free samples are available for most products, with the customer covering shipping, so a lab can run its own checks before committing to a full drum order.
The market is full of creatine that meets the number on paper but varies in particle size, color, and dissolution behavior batch to batch. The cheaper route is rarely the cheaper route once you factor in rework and customer complaints. The smarter move is to lock in a supplier that holds the spec and the documentation consistently, then build your repeat-order cadence around that relationship.
Sourcing from a working supplier
We supply creatine monohydrate at supplement- and food-grade purity and ship to more than 140 countries, with payment and delivery terms that fit both trial orders and steady contract volumes. If you are launching a sports-nutrition SKU, scaling an existing line, or simply comparing your current raw material against a second source, the full specification sheet, COA, and ordering details are on the creatine monohydrate product page. Reach out for a sample and we will get it moving.
