COQ7-IN-1 is a powerful inhibitor of human coenzyme Q (COQ7), effectively disrupting the synthesis of ubiquinone (UQ) in the body. Notably, COQ7-IN-1 does not disrupt the natural growth of human normal culture cells. This compound proves valuable for investigating the equilibrium between two pathways of UQ supplementation: de novo UQ synthesis and extracellular UQ uptake[1].

COQ7-IN-1 (Compound 8; 0-30 μM; for 4 days) inhibits WI-38 cells growth with a GI50 of 19.0 μM. COQ7-IN-1 weakly inhibits C3A cells growth with GI50 of 9.0±1.1 μM. COQ7-IN-1 does not limit C3A cell survival through inhibiting aerobic respiration or increasing oxidative stress[1].COQ7 converts demethoxy-UQ (DMQ) to demethyl-UQ (DMeQ), and then converted to UQ by COQ3. Cells under COQ7 deficiency are unable to produce UQ, and consequently accumulate DMQ. DMQ10 and UQ10 contents in each culture well are 13.2 and 12.2 ng/well for COQ7-IN-1 (10 μM; for 2 days) cultured with HeLa cells. DMQ10 content of COQ7-IN-1 in HeLa cells is 52.0%[1].