Coenzyme Q10 Softgels

Coenzyme Q10 is ubidecarenone (INN), CAS 303-98-0, C59H90O4, MW 863.34, chemically 2,3-dimethoxy-5-methyl-6-decaprenyl-1,4-benzoquinone: a benzoquinone head carrying a ten-unit isoprenoid tail, which is where the 10 in the name comes from and why the molecule behaves like a lipid rather than a vitamin. Thovek fills it as a soft gelatin capsule at 30, 60, 100, 150, 200 and 300 mg of declared active. The raw material is made by microbial fermentation, which yields the all-trans isomer only; chemical synthesis routes can leave cis isomers behind, so the manufacturing route is stated on the certificate of analysis. Assay follows the USP Ubidecarenone monograph at not less than 98.0% and not more than 101.0% on the anhydrous basis, and the declared per-capsule strength is calculated on assayed active rather than on as-weighed powder. The softgel is not a packaging preference, it is a formulation decision. Ubidecarenone is an odourless, tasteless orange crystalline powder melting at about 49-51 C and practically insoluble in water, so a dry powder in a two-piece capsule presents the body with crystals that have to be dissolved before anything can happen. A softgel disperses or solubilises the active in a lipid carrier before encapsulation - rice bran oil, medium-chain triglycerides or sunflower oil with lecithin and a suspending wax. Two distinct fills exist and are not interchangeable: a standard suspension, which still carries undissolved CoQ10 crystals, and a heat-solubilised or crystal-free fill, in which the active is taken into solution at fill temperature and held there by the carrier system. The reduced form, ubiquinol (CAS 992-78-9, C59H92O4, MW 865.4), is a separate build encapsulated under nitrogen with its own antioxidant system, because it reverts to ubiquinone on air exposure. Origin, allergen and claim status are all decided by choices made outside the active. Fermentation CoQ10 uses no animal input and is vegan in itself, but the finished softgel is vegan only when the vegetarian shell of modified maize starch and carrageenan is used; a bovine gelatin shell makes the unit non-vegetarian, and fish gelatin makes it marine. The active is free of milk, egg, fish, crustacean, gluten and nut, but soybean oil or soy lecithin in the carrier system is a declarable soy allergen, so the carrier must be specified rather than left to the plant. CoQ10 is light-sensitive, which argues for opaque bottles or Alu-Alu blister rather than clear PVC. Finally, label copy needs care: the EU authorised-claims register carries no coenzyme Q10 entry equivalent to the EPA and DHA heart-function entry, so permitted wording has to be confirmed market by market before artwork is signed off.