| abstract |
Reduced coenzyme Q 10 is useful as functional nutritive foods, specific health foods and the like. The present invention provides a method for efficiently obtaining reduced coenzyme Q 10 of high quality and by a method suitable for a commercial production. nIt is possible to handle and stably preserve reduced coenzyme Q 10 under a condition that oxidation by a molecular oxygen is inhibited by contacting reduced coenzyme Q 10 with an ascorbic acid and citric acid or a related compound thereof, and thus a stabilized composition is obtained. Moreover, reduced coenzyme Q 10 is converted into a crystalline state in such a condition that the formation of oxidized coenzyme Q 10 as a byproduct is minimized by crystallizing reduced coenzyme Q 10 in the presence of ascorbic acid or a related compound thereof, etc., and thus a reduced coenzyme Q 10 crystal of high quality is produced. Furthermore, by successively crystallizing the generated reduced coenzyme Q 10 in the presence of ascorbic acid or a related compound thereof after reducing oxidized coenzyme Q 10 to reduced coenzyme Q 10 using ascorbic acid or a related compound thereof, operations are simplified and minimized, and thus reduced coenzyme Q 10 of high quality is produced. |