title: Puerarin and conjugate bases as radical scavengers and antioxidants: molecular mechanism and synergism with beta-carotene.
abstract: The 4'-hydroxyl group of puerarin, a C-glycoside of the isoflavonoid daidzein, was shown, using 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical cation and stopped-flow spectroscopy and by comparison with the 7-propylpuerarin (A ring derivative) and 4'-propylpuerarin (B ring derivative), to be a more efficient radical scavenger as compared to the 7-hydroxyl group by a factor of 2, a difference increasing upon deprotonation. The difference in radical scavenging agreed with the oxidation potentials (cyclic voltammetry in acetonitrile, 0.1 M Bu4NBF4 at 25 degrees C): E/mV=862+/-3 for puerarin, 905+/-10 for 7-propylpuerarin, and 1064+/-2 for 4'-propylpuerarin relative to ferrocene/ferricenium. In aqueous solution, the reduction potential was shown to decrease for increasing pH, and deprotonation of the 4'-hydroxyl group increased radical scavenging more than deprotonation of the 7-hydroxyl group. The 7-hydroxyl was found to be more acidic (pKa1=7.20+/-0.01 in puerarin and pKa=7.23+/-0.01 in 4'-propylpuerarin) than the 4'-hydroxyl group (pKa2=9.84+/-0.08 in puerarin and pKa=9.51+/-0.02 in 7-propylpuerarin); aqueous solution, ionic strength of 0.1, and 25 degrees C. In phosphatidyl choline liposome of pH 7.4, puerarin and beta-carotene each showed a modest antioxidant activity measured as prolongation of the lag phase for formation of conjugate dienes and using the water-soluble radical initiator APPH with effects of puerarin and beta-carotene being additive. For the lipophilic initiator AMVN, the antioxidative effect decreased for puerarin and increased for beta-carotene as compared to APPH and showed a clear synergism. A regeneration of beta-carotene, effective in the liposome lipid phase as antioxidant, from the cation radical by deprotonated forms of puerarin was demonstrated in 9:1 chloroform/methanol using laser flash photolysis with k2=2.7x10(4) L mol-1 s-1 for the bimolecular process between the cation radical and the puerarin dianion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Rui-Min
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Yu-Xi
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Eleonora Miquel
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Mogens L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: Jian-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Leif H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Skibsted
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D004357:Drug Synergism; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D007529:Isoflavones / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D019207:beta Carotene / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers; D007529:Isoflavones; D019207:beta Carotene; C033607:puerarin