Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry for the Determination of Coenzyme Q10 as an Anti-Aging Ingredient in Edible Cosmetics

Abstract

A simple and rapid method for the determination of coenzyme Q10 in edible cosmetics was developed and validated. Cleanup utilizing a solid-phase extraction technique provided a simple and reliable method for extracting both coenzyme Q10 and its internal standard coenzyme Q9 from the lecithin-rich samples with efficiencies of 92 ± 4% and 89 ± 3%, respectively. The separation of analytes through a reversed-phase C18 column was carried out within 10 min. By employing authentic coenzyme Q10 and the internal standard spiked into blank matrices, the combined use of solid phase extraction cleanup and chromatographic separation coupled with electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry detection was shown to be sufficiently accurate to detect coenzyme Q10 in edible cosmetic matrices. The limit of quantification of coenzyme Q10 determined by the validated method was 54 ng/g in the matrices. In addition, the intra- and inter-day precision was <4% and the accuracy ranged from 87.1 to 92.3%. Quantitative results for coenzyme Q10 levels in two different edible cosmetic samples obtained by the established analytical protocol were reproducible. This is the first report of the determination of coenzyme Q10 in lipophilic edible cosmetic matrices by liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry.