Issue 1, 2010

Carotenoids can act as antioxidants by oxidizing the superoxideradical anion

Abstract

The electron transfer (ET) reaction between carotenoids and the superoxide radical anion is found to be not only a viable process but also a very unique one. The nature of the O2˙ inverts the direction of the transfer, with respect to ET involving other ROS: the O2˙ becomes the electron donor and carotenoids (CAR) the electron acceptor. Therefore the “antioxidant” activity of CAR when reacting with O2˙ lies in their capacity to prevent the formation of oxidant ROS. This peculiar charge transfer is energetically feasible in non-polar environments but not in polar media. In addition the relative reactivity of CAR towards O2˙ is drastically different from their reactivity to other ROS. Asthaxanthin (ASTA) is predicted to be a better O2˙ quencher than LYC and the other CAR. The CAR + O2˙ reactions were found to be diffusion controlled. The agreement with available experimental data supports the density functional theory results from the present work.

Graphical abstract: Carotenoids can act as antioxidants by oxidizing the superoxide radical anion

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
27 Aug 2009
Accepted
01 Oct 2009
First published
06 Nov 2009

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010,12, 193-200

Carotenoids can act as antioxidants by oxidizing the superoxide radical anion

A. Galano, R. Vargas and A. Martínez, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010, 12, 193 DOI: 10.1039/B917636E

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