LC/MS/MS analysis of α‐tocopherol and coenzyme Q10 content in lyophilized royal jelly, beebread and drone homogenate

This study shows the results of application liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) for assay of the content of α‐tocopherol and coenzyme Q10 in bee products of animal origin, i.e. royal jelly, beebread and drone homogenate. The biological matrix was removed using extraction with n‐hexane. It was found that drone homogenate is a rich source of coenzyme Q10. It contains only 8 ± 1 µg/g of α‐tocopherol and 20 ± 2 µg/g of coenzyme Q10. The contents of assayed compounds in royal jelly were 16 ± 3 and 8 ± 0.2 µg/g of α‐tocopherol and coenzyme Q10, respectively. Beebread appeared to be the richest of α‐tocopherol. Its level was 80 ± 30 µg/g, while the level of coenzyme Q10 was only 11.5 ± 0.3 µg/g.