Tempe, Arizona – September 11, 2026 -- Nootropics Depot has launched SulfoMax, a powdered sulforaphane supplement designed to fix a chemistry problem the company says undermines standard capsule versions of the compound.
Sulforaphane, a compound studied for its role in cellular defense and cognitive resilience, is too unstable to bottle directly. Most supplements instead combine glucoraphanin, a stable precursor, with the enzyme myrosinase inside a capsule, relying on the two to react after swallowing.
Lab testing found stomach acid disables the key enzyme
Nootropics Depot's analytical lab ran that reaction through a Distek dissolution tester using simulated gastric fluid. At stomach-acid pH, myrosinase was largely inactivated, meaning much of the precursor in a conventional capsule can pass through the body without converting into active sulforaphane.
SulfoMax runs the reaction in a glass of water instead of the stomach
The powder blends 360mg of black kale extract standardized to 17% glucoraphanin with 240mg of white mustard seed powder, which the company identified as the richest myrosinase source among the brassicas it evaluated. Potassium bicarbonate buffers a glass of water to a pH where the enzyme stays active, 12mg of vitamin C acts as a cofactor to boost conversion, and an acacia fiber base keeps the enzyme and precursor suspended together. Five minutes after mixing, the glass contains active sulforaphane, which can then be diluted or combined with other products.
UPLC testing confirmed the converted compound survives digestion
Once sulforaphane is formed, it is stable in gastric fluid, unlike the enzyme needed to create it. UPLC testing confirmed the finished serving's sulforaphane survived simulated gastric fluid at both pH 1.2 and pH 3. The compound also degrades rapidly at high temperatures, which is why SulfoMax is sold as a powder rather than a capsule or pre-converted liquid.
"We watched the capsule approach fail in simulated gastric fluid over and over,