Metabolic Blend: structure and analysis

What it is

A three-compound blend supplied in a single vial: NAD+ at 100 mg, MOTS-c at 10 mg, and 5-Amino-1MQ at 10 mg. The notation 100/10/10mg gives each component's mass in that order.

Two of the three components are not peptides. NAD+ — nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide — is a coenzyme built from two nucleotides. 5-Amino-1MQ is a small-molecule quinolinium. Only MOTS-c, a 16-residue mitochondrially encoded peptide, is a peptide at all.

This makes it the only product in the catalogue that is not predominantly peptide material, and the distinction is not cosmetic: peptide-specific analytical methods do not apply uniformly across the vial.

How it is produced

Supplied as a blend: the named components are combined and co-lyophilized into a single vial, with the mass of each component stated. The components are produced separately and characterised before combination.

This changes the analytical question. For a single compound, purity asks what share of the detected material was the target. For a blend there are several targets, and what matters is whether each named component is present at its stated mass — per-component identification and quantitation rather than one purity percentage.

Confirming identity

Three components requiring three different analytical approaches. MOTS-c is confirmed as a peptide would be, by mass spectrometry against the expected 16-residue mass. NAD+ and 5-Amino-1MQ are confirmed as small molecules, against their own reference standards.

A certificate that applies peptide methods across this vial has characterised one third of its contents.

Analytical considerations

The methods diverge more here than for any other product. Reversed-phase HPLC with far-ultraviolet detection is well suited to a peptide; NAD+ is a highly polar nucleotide with strong absorbance near 260 nm, and a quinolinium is a small aromatic cation. Their chromatographic and detection requirements genuinely differ.

Purity in the peptide sense is not a meaningful single figure for this vial. Per-component identification and quantitation against appropriate reference standards is the only coherent way to characterise it.

Stability is component-dependent too. NAD+ is notably less stable in solution than a lyophilized peptide, so the vial's storage conditions are set by its least stable component — and in this case that is unlikely to be the peptide.

What its certificate reports

A certificate for a lot of this material names the lot, names the issuing laboratory, and states for each parameter both the method used and the specification the result was measured against. Identity and purity are the two core results; net peptide content states how much of the fill weight is actually peptide.

A certificate belongs to a lot, not to a product line. When a new lot is released it is tested again, and the certificate published against it is that lot's certificate — a previous lot's result is never carried forward.

Research use only

This page describes structure and analysis. It makes no claim about what this compound does, and none should be inferred from it. Material is supplied for laboratory research use only: it is not a drug, food, dietary supplement, cosmetic or medical device, it is not for human or veterinary consumption, and no dosing, administration or reconstitution guidance is provided for any such use.