Crystalline Ubiquinone (Coenzyme Q₁₀) from Sea Urchin Sperm

Abstract

SPERM cells of Paracentrotus lividus and Sphaerechinus granularis contain a quinone which shows the same chemical and physical properties as ubiquinone from the bovine heart. The method used for the extraction and purification of this invertebrate ubiquinone is quite similar to that used for the mammalian compound¹. However, the presence in the extracts of a number of coloured substances, which have typical absorption spectra and which can undergo reversible oxidation-reduction, excluded the use of some common solvents, made column chromatography purification more difficult and restricted the use of the paper chromatography method and of the colorimetric test to the very purified material, that is, to its crystalline form only. It was impossible, therefore, to make any calculation of degree of purification during preparation and of the yield of the substance and of its original quantity. After several attempts the method was standardized as follows.