Gregory Chandler on the Beginnings of COQ-10

CoQ-10 was first discovered and isolated from beef heart mitochondria in 1957 by Dr. Fred Crane and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin. At the same time, Professor R. A. Morton in the United Kingdom isolated the compound from vitamin A-deficient rat liver and identified it as being the same compound as COQ-10. He named the compound "ubiquinone", meaning the ubiquitous quinone. Dr. Karl Folkers and his group at Merck in 1958 then identified the compound's chemical structure and were the first to produce it by fermentation. They named the compound coenzyme Q10 because of its quinone structure and the ten isoprene unit side chain.

In the mid-1960's, researchers in Japan became the first to use coenzyme Q7, a related compound, in the treatment of congestive heart failure. Dr. Peter Mitchell of the United Kingdom received the Nobel Prize in 1978 for his contribution to the understanding of biological energy transfer through the formulation of the chemiosmotic theory, which includes the vital protonmotive role of COQ-10 in energy transfer systems. Lars Ernster of Sweden expanded upon COQ-10's importance as an antioxidant and free radical scavenger.

By the mid-1970's, Japanese researchers perfected the industrial technology to produce pure COQ-10 in quantities sufficient for larger clinical trials. This was followed in the early 1980's by a considerable acceleration in the number and size of clinical trials. The breakthrough was a result, in part, from the availability of pure COQ-10 in large quantities from pharmaceutical companies in Japan and from the capacity to directly measure COQ-10 in blood and tissue by high performance liquid chromatography. There have now been several international symposia on the biomedical and clinical aspects of COQ-10 from 1976 to now, including over 300 studies presented by researchers.

Professor Karl Folkers received the Priestly Medal from the American Chemical Society in 1986 and the National Medal of Science from President George Bush in 1990 for his work with COQ-10 and other vitamins.

In 2006, the first pure, stable form of ubiquinol was developed in bulk for the manufacture and commercial use of ubiquinol as a supplement. As a result, COQ-10 may be purchased at retail outlets such as health supplement stores and drug stores.

GREGORY CHANDLER, Attorney at Law