Observations on the Applicability of Commonly used Radical Scavenging Assays to
Assessment of Antioxidant Activity of Phenolic Antioxidants
Maria Tsimdou
Lab. Food Chemistry and Technology
Aristotle University Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki, Greece
Classical oven tests for the in vitro activity of antioxidants and extracts have been replaced the last years by fast tests, which do not involve lipid substrates. Various synthetic radicals (DPPH, ABTS, etc) are, thus, widely used by many investigators from various fields (food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, medicine). The vast number of data produced the last decade has been the subject of many discussions since all of them do not agree with basic principles of organic chemistry for the expected activity of compounds. Case studies on the most popular assays will be presented with regards to experimental conditions, test compounds and structure activity relationships. Merits and drawbacks are explained and ways to tackle difficulties are proposed.
Dr. Maria Tsimidou graduated from the
Chemistry Dept of. Aristotle Univ of Thessaloniki, Greece in 1977. She has
worked in the State Chemical Laboratory of Greece at various positions for 10
years. She got her Ph.D. from
Reading Univ. UK. in 1985, and had part time appointments in the Univ of
Ioannina and the Technological institute of Thessaloniki. She was appointed in
the Chemistry Dept. of the Univ. of Thessaloniki in 1989 where she is still
working as an Associate Professor of Food Chemistry. Her research interests are
related to olive oil quality and natural antioxidants (characterization,
activity assessment). She has published research papers, contributions in books
and encyclopedias and was involved in research projects.