XXII. BIOCHEMICKÝ ZJAZD - Jesseniova lekárska fakulta

Posters
97.
EffECTIVENESS OF PHENOLS AS ANTIOXIDANTS AGAINST SUPEROXIDE
raDICAL
Beáta Veliká and Ivan Kron
Department of Medical Chemistry, Biochemistry, Clinical Biochemistry and
LABMED a.s, Faculty of Medicine, PJ Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia
Phenolic antioxidants are included in the category of free radical terminators. It is known,
that phenols reduce rates of oxidation of organic mater by transferring a hydrogen atom
from OH groups to the chain carrying ROO° radicals (Foti, 2007). It was proved, that the
intramolecular hydrogen bonding has an important effect on the antioxidant properties
of phenols. Various ortho-substituents may function as H-bond acceptors (Foti, 2007).
For the study of antioxidant properties of selected compounds (resorcinol, hydroquinone,
pyrocatechol and pyrogallol) we used a generator of superoxide radical (Beauchamp and
Fridovich, 1971) with NBT as a detector after 5, 10, 15 and 20 min of UV illumination. These
compounds are able to capture and acquit an electron, what depends on the structure
of used compounds. The antioxidant activity of phenols is related to the number and
position of hydroxyl groups on benzene skeleton. The best antioxidant activity showed
dihydroxyderivatives in para- and ortho- position. On the other hand, prooxidant properties
were recorded for resorcinol and pyrogallol in time and concentration dependance.
Our study confirms the relationship between antioxidant properties and structure.
Acknowledgement: VEGA 1/0624/08.
XXII. Biochemistry Congress, Martin
221