Chemists Create More-Effective Antioxidants

Antioxidants can counteract the damaging effects of oxygen on tissues and other materials. Vitamin E, or alpha-tocopherol, is a phenol. It contains a ring made of six carbon atoms with a hydroxyl group (OH) attached. In addition to attaching a nitrogen atom to the ring, graduate student Derek Pratt at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN, USA) had the idea to substitute a nitrogen atom for one of the carbon atoms in the ring. With both substitutions he predicted that the resulting molecules, called pyridinols, should be more stable in air. Then he determined that the pyridinols should have the same properties that existing antioxidants have to make them effective.

It took a year for the researchers to work out a 12-step process that produced the most effective member of this new class of compounds in quantities large enough for testing. Samples were sent to a special laboratory at the University of Bologna (Italy), where the best pyridinols produced by the Vanderbilt chemists were found to be as much as 100 times more effective than vitamin E,

The chemists have combined their antioxidants with low density lipoprotein (LDL) and found that they appear to protect LDL molecules from oxidation. That may be significant since one popular theory for the cause of coronary artery disease is lipid oxidation. Dr. Pratt has moved to the University of Illinois, at Urbana-Champaign, (USA), where he continues to work on the new antioxidants.




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