Abstract
Pyrroloquinoline quinone(PQQ) was discovered as a novel co-factor in various bacterial dehydrogenases in 1979. It was demonstrated that PQQ exists in all sorts of plant and animals. Last year, it was suggested that PQQ is nutritionally important as a vitamin in mammals. Various analytical methods, such as high-performance liquid chromatography, GC/MS have been reported for determine the level of free PQQ. However, the quantitative analysis of PQQ by these methods is difficult, due to the formation of hydrate and adducts with nucleophilic reagents such as amino acids. In this study, we examine the application of multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) of LC/MS/MS to the quantitative analysis of PQQ. As a result, PQQ was detected in various species of plants and various forms of PQQ were identified. Now, we are trying to improve sensitivity of MS by derivatization of PQQ.
