Oligomeric oxidation products of the flavonoid quercetin

Scavengome of an antioxidant

The term "scavengome" refers to the chemical space of all the metabolites that may be formed from an antioxidant upon scavenging reactive oxygen or nitrogen species (ROS/RNS). This chemical space covers a wide variety of free radical metabolites with drug discovery potential. It is very rich in structures representing an increased chemical complexity as compared to the parent antioxidant: a wide range of unusual heterocyclic structures, new CC bonds, etc. may be formed. Further, in a biological environment, this increased chemical complexity is directly translated from the localized conditions of oxidative stress that determines the amounts and types of ROS/RNS present. Biomimetic oxidative chemistry provides an excellent tool to model chemical reactions between antioxidants and ROS/RNS. In this chapter, we provide an overview on the known metabolites obtained by biomimetic oxidation of a few selected natural antioxidants, i.e., a stilbene (resveratrol), a pair of hydroxycinnamates (caffeic acid and methyl caffeate), and a flavonol (quercetin), and discuss the drug discovery perspectives of the related chemical space.

Determination of free diferulic, disinapic and dicoumaric acids in plants and foods

Hydroxycinnamates are common phenolic compounds of plants and plant foods, often found in substantial quantities. Due to their high in vitro antioxidant activity they can easily be oxidized under oxidative conditions. In this study, we found that in vitro oxidation of coumaric, ferulic and sinapic acids resulted mainly in dimeric compounds. We hypothesized that these dimers are present in plants and plant foods not only in their bound form but also as free acids that can be extracted from non-hydrolyzed samples. By applying sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS method, we were able to identify and quantify four free hydroxycinnamic acid dimers for the first time, namely 8-8'-disinapic, 8-5'-diferulic, 8-O-4'-diferulic and 8-3'-dicoumaric acids, in wheat sprouts, Chinese cabbage, millet sprouts, light beer and parsley. Concentrations of dicinnamates in plant tissues ranged from 0.05 to 2.8 μg g(-1) DW and the monomer:dimer ratio ranged from 2 to 850.