UCSB Chemist Synthesizes Powerful Nutrition Supplement

By GAIL GALLESSICH

One of the hottest nutritional supplements on the market, which is currently manufactured only by fermentation and only in Japan, may eventually be synthesized in the United States, thanks to a UCSB researcher.

Bruce H. Lipshutz, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, has developed what he calls a "short and sweet" way to prepare coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10 ), or ubiquinone, since it is ubiquitous in the body. The process is economically competitive and uses inexpensive transition metal catalysts, such as nickel and cobalt.

Ubiquinone is produced by the human body and aids in respiration and cellular energy production. About age 20, the efficiency of our biosynthesis begins to drop, said Lipshutz. "And without CoQ10 there is no human life."

According to the National Cancer Institute, ubiquinone helps cells create energy, and acts as an antioxidant. First isolated in 1957, "interest in CoQ10 as a therapeutic agent in cancer began in 1961, when a deficiency was noted in the blood of both Swedish and American cancer patients, especially in the blood of patients with breast cancer," said the NCI. "A subsequent study showed a statistically significant relationship between the level of plasma CoQ10 deficiency and breast cancer prognosis."

Ubiquinone is essential for the process of respiration, as the body converts oxygen into water. "This (compound) affects everyone on the planet," said Lipshutz. "I am hoping to make people more aware as to how important it is to take supplemental CoQ10. For much of the population it can be viewed as an essential 'vitamin.'"

The compound is marketed in the U.S. as a nutritional supplement, and can be purchased in health food and discount drug stores and other places where vitamins are sold. Because of this designation, the Food and Drug Administration does not regulate it. In Japan and several other countries, ubiquinone is sold as a pharmaceutical requiring a prescription.

Besides combating cancer, Lipshutz said that ubiquinone is believed to slow the progression of Huntington's and Parkinson's diseases, and is especially important for those taking statins or who suffer from heart disease. As an antioxidant, it helps to combat "free radicals" (those unstable molecules that cause damage to healthy cells) in the body, slowing the aging process.

"Lipshutz and laboratory coworkers Paul Mollard, Steven Pfeiffer, and Will Chrisman kept costs down by using inexpensive ingredients—including one compound derived from tobacco waste—and by reducing the number of steps involved in making CoQ10," according to the National Science Foundation, which has supported the team's work. "The result is a very short and efficient process for making CoQ10 in the laboratory that may finally make non-fermentative production of this supplement economical."

His method is patented and he is talking to U.S. companies regarding potential commercialization.