title: Understanding the chemistry behind the antioxidant activities of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT): a review.
abstract: Hindered phenols find a wide variety of applications across many different industry sectors. Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) is a most commonly used antioxidant recognized as safe for use in foods containing fats, pharmaceuticals, petroleum products, rubber and oil industries. In the past two decades, there has been growing interest in finding novel antioxidants to meet the requirements of these industries. To accelerate the antioxidant discovery process, researchers have designed and synthesized a series of BHT derivatives targeting to improve its antioxidant properties to be having a wide range of antioxidant activities markedly enhanced radical scavenging ability and other physical properties. Accordingly, some structure-activity relationships and rational design strategies for antioxidants based on BHT structure have been suggested and applied in practice. We have identified 14 very sensitive parameters, which may play a major role on the antioxidant performance of BHT. In this review, we attempt to summarize the current knowledge on this topic, which is of significance in selecting and designing novel antioxidants using a well-known antioxidant BHT as a building-block molecule. Our strategy involved investigation on understanding the chemistry behind the antioxidant activities of BHT, whether through hydrogen or electron transfer mechanism to enable promising anti-oxidant candidates to be synthesized.
authors.affiliation: Nanotechnology & Catalysis Research Centre, (NANOCAT), University of Malaya, Block 3A, Institute of Postgraduate Studies Building, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: wdabdoub@um.edu.my.
authors.forename: Wageeh A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Yehye
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Noorsaadah Abdul
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Azhar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ariffin
authors.affiliation: Nanotechnology & Catalysis Research Centre, (NANOCAT), University of Malaya, Block 3A, Institute of Postgraduate Studies Building, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Sharifah Bee
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Abd Hamid
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Abeer A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Alhadi
authors.affiliation: Division of Human Biology, Faculty of Medicine, International Medical University, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Farkaad A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Kadir
authors.affiliation: Drug Design and Development Research Group, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Marzieh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yaeghoobi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002084:Butylated Hydroxytoluene / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D015394:Molecular Structure
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D002084:Butylated Hydroxytoluene
keywords: Antioxidant; Butylated hydroxytoluene; Free radical; Phenol; Reactive oxygen species