Determination of coenzyme Q10 in over-the-counter dietary supplements by high-performance liquid chromatography with coulometric detection

A rapid and sensitive method is described for the determination of coenzyme Q10 (Q10) in over-the-counter dietary supplements by automated high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with coulometric detection. Sample solutions of powder-filled capsules, oil-based softgels, and tablets were prepared by serial dilution with 1-propanol. After dilution, a known volume of sample solution containing Q10 and the internal standard, coenzyme Q9 (Q9), was directly injected into the HPLC system. Most of electrochemically active compounds in the injection were oxidized at the precolumn conditioning cell and postcolumn guard cell. Q9 and Q10 were monitored at an analytical cell that contained 2 coulometric electrodes, where Q9 and Q10 were reduced to the corresponding ubiquinol-9 and -10 and then oxidized to produce currents. This method produced a linear detector response for peak height measurements over the concentration range of 0.05-8 microg/mL (r > 0.999). The lower limit of detection was 5 ng/mL (signal-to-noise ratio, > or =3). The mean recovery was 98.9 +/- 0.6%; coefficients of variation for intra- and interday precisions were 1.8-4.0%. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of Q10 in marketed products.