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Milliliters to Microliters Converter
↔ Convert µL to mL instead

Common Conversions

mL µL
0.001 1
0.002 2
0.005 5
0.01 10
0.02 20
0.05 50
0.1 100
0.2 200
0.5 500
1 1000
2 2000
5 5000

Why this conversion matters in chemistry

Reagent stocks live in mL — a 1 mL aliquot of an enzyme, a 5 mL aliquot of buffer — and the work happens in µL. A PCR reaction is 20 µL. An ELISA well takes 100 µL. Plating a bacterial culture might use 50 µL. Multiplying by 1000 is the bookkeeping that lets a 1 mL stock become twenty 50 µL aliquots, each one carrying the volume the pipette is actually rated for. The conversion is what keeps a notebook calculation from accidentally claiming you delivered a thousand times more enzyme than you did.

Formula

µL = mL × 1000

Worked Examples

0.001 mL = 1 µL

About the smallest reliable volume off a standard micropipette — the kind of addition you make for a primer or a restriction enzyme.

0.01 mL = 10 µL

A typical enzyme aliquot for a small-scale digestion or kinase reaction.

0.1 mL = 100 µL

A standard ELISA well or a microplate-format binding assay.

1 mL = 1000 µL

The top of the largest micropipette range, and a common aliquot size for storing a working dilution of a precious reagent.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I convert mL to µL?
Multiply by 1000. The relationship is exact, so 0.05 mL becomes 50 µL with no rounding. The micro prefix is 10⁻⁶, so 1 µL = 10⁻⁶ L = 10⁻³ mL.
Why do biochemists work in microliters?
Most biological reagents — enzymes, antibodies, primers, plasmids — are expensive and supplied in small quantities, and the assays they go into use volumes from 1 µL to a few hundred µL per reaction. Micropipettes are calibrated to dispense in that range, so the microliter became the working unit.
What micropipettes cover the µL range?
Most benches keep a set covering 0.1–2 µL, 0.5–10 µL, 2–20 µL, 20–200 µL, and 100–1000 µL. Each is most accurate in the upper half of its range, which is why you reach for the smaller pipette when the volume allows.
How does µL relate to drops?
A standard laboratory drop is roughly 50 µL, or about 0.05 mL, though that depends on the dropper and the liquid. For anything that has to be reproducible, a calibrated micropipette beats counting drops every time.