IDENTIFICATION OF COENZYME Q10 FROM PORPHYRIDIUM PURPUREUM (RHODOPHYTA) BY MATRIX‐ASSISTED LASER DESORPTION IONIZATION CURVED FIELD REFLECTRON MASS SPECTROMETRY1

• Published in: Journal of phycology Vol. 47; no. 3; pp. 687 - 691
• Main Authors: Klein, Barbara C., Bartel, Sebastian J., Darsow, Kai H., Naumann, Ivonne, Walter, Christian, Buchholz, Rainer, Lange, Harald A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-06-2011
• Subjects: antioxidant; coenzyme Q10; MALDI curved field reflectron mass spectrometer; Porphyridium purpureum
• ISSN: 0022-3646; 1529-8817
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1529-8817.2011.00978.x

Antioxidant agents from natural sources are currently the focus of scientific interest and are part of several natural product screenings. Coenzymes Q (CoQ, ubiquinones) are integral parts of the electron transport chain of the inner mitochondrial membrane. As antioxidants they protect phospholipids against peroxidation and are also involved in various processes of tissue protection. Their natural occurrence was validated for Saccharomyces cerevisiae as CoQ6, for Escherichia coli as CoQ8, and for humans as CoQ10. After carrying out a preparative reversed‐phase (RP)–HPLC separation of extracts isolated from unicellular red alga Porphyridium purpureum (Bory) K. M. Drew et R. Ross, it was possible to identify a 2,3‐dimethoxy‐5‐methyl‐6‐decaprenyl‐1,4‐benzoquinone (CoQ10) within these extracts using a matrix‐assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) curved field reflectron (CFR) mass spectrometer. Detected mass fragments showed a high significance and could be structurally interpreted for both commercialized standard and CoQ10 isolated from P. purpureum.