fM

femtomole per liter

Molar concentrationexact by definition

The femtomolar is 10⁻¹⁵ mol/L, the detection floor of the most sensitive immunoassays and of single-molecule counting techniques. At 1 fM a microlitre contains fewer than a thousand molecules, which is where concentration starts to be a statistical rather than a bulk statement.

Watch out: Below about a picomolar, adsorption onto the walls of the tube removes a meaningful fraction of the analyte. A femtomolar standard is only femtomolar if the vessel has been passivated.

1 fM 1.0000000e-15 M