Earlier this year, Synutra, the leading chondroitin supplier in the US, convened a team of industry and analytical experts to identify an adulterant in chondroitin sulfate previously detected by internal work by the company, which it called Zero One.
The research group’s work identified Zero One as sodium hexametaphosphate, or Calgon.
The most commonly used chondroitin assay method, cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) titration, can be fooled by various known adulterants. The new paper, published in the Journal of AOAC International, describes why cellulose acetate membrane electrophoresis (CAME) should be used before CPC. Electrophoresis is a method that uses an electric field to separate substances – the substances move by different amounts when in a colloidal suspension.
CAME, which has been in the USP monograph for chondroitin sulfate for years, is an inexpensive (as little as $190 per sample), simple, and effective procedure that can be used as a qualitative raw material screening tool before running quantitative methods such as CPC or other specific methods such as enzymatic HPLC.
The United Natural Products Alliance moved quickly to advise its members to adopt the method. “Based on the quality of the authors and the robustness of the work, we recommend this method now,” Loren Israelsen, UNPA president, told NutraIngredients-USA.
The paper was authored by James Neal-Kababick, Director of Flora Research Laboratories, Jana Hildreth, Director of Technology and Scientific Affairs of Synutra Pure, Synutra’s President Weiguo Zhang, Dr. Gabriel Giancaspro, Vice President of Foods, Dietary Supplements and Herbal Medicines at the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), Dr. Kristie Adams, who is a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopist at USP, Dr. Joseph Betz, Director, Analytical Methods and Reference Materials Program, Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health, and the late Dr. Mark Roman, Director of Tampa Bay Analytical Research Laboratories.
The paper is dedicated to the late Dr Roman.
To watch an interview with Synutra's Zhang and Hildreth, please click HERE.
Synutra has sponsored Open Access availability of the article. Please click on the link below:
Source: Journal of AOAC International
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.5740/jaoacint.14-167
“Electrophoretic Separation of Alginic Sodium Diester and Sodium Hexametaphosphate in Chondroitin Sulfate that Interfere with the Cetylpyridinium Chloride Titration Assay”
Authors: W. Zhang; G. Giancaspro ; K.M. Adams; J. Neal-Kababick; J. Hildreth; A. Li; M.C. Roman; J.M. Betz