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Converting Micromolars (uM) to PartsPer-Million (PPM) When Using PGRs

In chemistry, micromolarity (uM / M) describes the number of particles dissolved in
the solution, is a very scientific unit of measure, so it makes sense that many scientists
would use this unit when performing PGR studies. For the everyday botanist, however
this can be quite irritating when trying to look through papers to get a gauge on how to
use a PGR on a desired species.

In this guide well be using bamboo (Bambusa arundinaceae) for the target plant and
Gibberellic Acid (GA3) for the PGR as our examples. Bamboo makes a good example to
show the high end of micromolar unit conversion usages, as bamboos tend to be quite
stiff and counter-absorptive, while Gibberellin A3 is a great multi-use PGR that is widely
trusted and used.

Since we do our PGR dissolution tables in PPM here this conversion method is
necessary. Converting M to PPM is a somewhat simple matter of multiplying the
molecular weight by the M value. To get there scientifically however can be somewhat
confusing and heres how it works:

The molecular weight (aka molar mass) corresponds to the weight of a chemical
compound (note the purity of a product is rather irrelevant at this point). In the case of
GA3 its generally considered to be 346.1504. The value of molar mass is achieved by
assessing GA3s molecular formula, which is C19H22O6. That is 19 carbon, 22 hydrogen
and 6 oxygen atoms. The strict precise atomic weight of carbon is 12.0107, hydrogen
1.00794 and oxygen is 15.9994. Calculating these into (the strict precise) molar mass
goes like this: (19*12.0107=228.2033) + (22*1.00794=22.17468) + (6*15.9994=95.9964)
= 346.37438.

All of that can be quite confusing so luckily we have an easy reference list:

Molar concentration (substance concentration) describes the number of particles dissolved

in the solution. A 1 mM solution has 6.022 10^20 particles dissolved in each liter of
solution, which is one thousandth of the concentration of a 1 M solution.

Parts per million (ppm) denotes one part per 1,000,000 parts, one part in 106, 1/1,000,000 *
100% = 0.0001% (or 1% = 10,000 ppm), and a value of 1 106. This is equivalent to one
drop of water diluted into 50 liters.

NOTE: Were working on an easy calculator the make this conversion even easier
for everyone.

Before moving on to our example graphs its critically important to point that with each
PGR and each species there exists a dosage sweet spot. Too little of the PGR will have
no effect on the plant, while too much can actually inhibit the growth feature and may
even give opposite the desired results. Many of the graphs below illustrate this effect.

So for this example well now use Indole-3-Acetic Acid (IAA). Its molecular weight is
175.18. So 10 uM is 1751 PPM and 100 uM is 17,518 PPM. It would appear in this case
that the most ideal sweet spot might fall somewhere near 50 uM, although 10 uM
should be plenty effective.

Now with Chlorophyll A graph, looking at Indole-3-Butyric Acid (IBA) [molar mass =
203.23712] 10 uM would bring us to 2032 PPM vs. 20,323 in the high range. In this
instance the sweet spot would be in excess of of 100 uM, although this is an irrelevant
exercise considering IBA is used for rooting, not upper plant growth.