Effect of Various Halide Salts on the Incompatibility of Cyanocobalamin and Ascorbic Acid in Aqueous Solution

Abstract

Combination of cyanocobalamin (VB12) and ascorbic acid (VC) has been widely seen in pharmaceutical products and dietary supplements. However, VB12 has been reported that its behavior in stability in aqueous solution is quite different when VC is mixed. In the present study, we examined the stabilities of these vitamins in acetate buffer (pH 4.8) using high performance liquid chromatography. Degradation of VB12 was not observed in the absence of VC in the buffer. However, when VC was mixed in the VB12 solution, VB12 concentrations decreased in accordance with VC degradation. VB12 and VC degradations were inhibited by adding sodium halides to acetate buffer at pH 4.8. These stabilization effects were also observed in the range from pH 3.5 to 5.3 and by adding potassium, magnesium, and calcium halides. Furthermore, our data demonstrated that increases in the halide anion concentrations and atomic number (Cl⁻<Br⁻<I⁻) were proportionally associated with better stabilities of both VB12 and VC. Therefore, choosing an appropriate condition with a certain halide salt may be useful for stabilizing pharmaceutical products and dietary supplements when VB12 and VC are combined in solution.