Ascorbate autoxidation

Transition-metal-ion-free solutions of ascorbate autoxidize (i.e., react with 02) only slowly (e.g., carefully demetalized with a chelating resin such as Chelex 100 1.25 x 10-4mol dm"3 solutions lose only 0.05% ascorbate/15min (Buettner 1988 for a review giving valuable information how to deal with ascorbate solutions, see Buettner and Jurkiewicz 1995). The stability of ascorbate solutions is dramatically reduced in the presence of EDTA which apparently catalyzes the degradation by chelating adventitious iron ions (Buettner and Jurkiewicz 1995). 

The Catalysis of Ascorbate Autoxidation by Organic Compounds. While developing an in vitro reaction system for following oxygen consumption during autoxidation of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA),... 

The mechanism of the catalysis of ascorbate autoxidation by 6-OHDA, 6-ADA, DA, and other related compounds was studied in great detail (6) in double-mixer flow experiments coupled with ESR. These studies showed that the free radicals (QH ) generated by oxidation of the catalyst, for example, 6-OHDA in mixer No. 1 could be converted quantitatively to the ascorbate radical in the tandem mixer No. 2 by addition of excess ascorbate. A simplified version of this mechanism [see Ref. 6 for details] in neutral or alkaline solutions is ... 

Huettner, G. R., 1986, Ascorbate autoxidation in the presence of iron and copper chelates. Free Rad. Res. Commun. 1 349-353. 

Peroxyl radicals are the species that propagate autoxidation of the unsaturated fatty acid residues of phospholipids (50). In addition, peroxyl radicals are intermediates in the metabolism of certain drugs such as phenylbutazone (51). Epoxidation of BP-7,8-dihydrodiol has been detected during lipid peroxidation induced in rat liver microsomes by ascorbate or NADPH and during the peroxidatic oxidation of phenylbutazone (52,53). These findings suggest that peroxyl radical-mediated epoxidation of BP-7,8-dihydrodiol is general and may serve as the prototype for similar epoxidations of other olefins in a variety of biochemical systems. In addition, peroxyl radical-dependent epoxidation of BP-7,8-dihydrodiol exhibits the same stereochemistry as the arachidonic acid-stimulated epoxidation by ram seminal vesicle microsomes. This not only provides additional... 

The effects of flavonoids on in vitro and in vivo lipid peroxidation have been thoroughly studied [123]. Torel et al. [124] found that the inhibitory effects of flavonoids on autoxidation of linoleic acid increased in the order fustin < catechin < quercetin < rutin = luteolin < kaempferol < morin. Robak and Gryglewski [109] determined /50 values for the inhibition of ascorbate-stimulated lipid peroxidation of boiled rat liver microsomes. All the flavonoids studied were very effective inhibitors of lipid peroxidation in model system, with I50 values changing from 1.4 pmol l-1 for myricetin to 71.9 pmol I 1 for rutin. However, as seen below, these /50 values differed significantly from those determined in other in vitro systems. Terao et al. [125] described the protective effect of epicatechin, epicatechin gallate, and quercetin on lipid peroxidation of phospholipid bilayers. 

Autoxidation reactions of L-ascorbic acid (H2A) have been the subject of intensive studies for decades. It was shown that some of the most... 

The kinetic results reported by Jameson and Blackburn (11,12) for the copper catalyzed autoxidation of ascorbic acid are substantially different from those of Taqui Khan and Martell (6). The former could not reproduce the spontaneous oxidation in the absence of added catalysts when they used extremely pure reagents. These results imply that ascorbic acid is inert toward oxidation by dioxygen and earlier reports on spontaneous oxidation are artifacts due to catalytic impurities. In support of these considerations, it is worthwhile noting that trace amounts of transition metal ions, in particular Cu(II), may cause irreproducibilities in experimental work with ascorbic acid (13). While this problem can be eliminated by masking the metal ion(s), the masking agent needs to be selected carefully since it could become involved in side reactions in a given system. 

Reports by Li and Zuberbuhler were in support of the formation of Cu(I) as an intermediate (16). It was confirmed that Cu(I) and Cu(II) show the same catalytic activity and the reaction is first-order in [Cu(I) or (II)] and [02] in the presence of 0.6-1.5M acetonitrile and above pH 2.2. The oxygen consumption deviated from the strictly first-order pattern at lower pH and the corresponding kinetic traces were excluded from the evaluation of the data. The rate law was found to be identical with the one obtained for the autoxidation of Cu(I) in the absence of Cu(II) under similar conditions (17). Thus, the proposed kinetic model is centered around the reduction of Cu(II) by ascorbic acid and reoxidation of Cu(I) to Cu(II) by dioxygen ... 

Iron(III)-catalyzed autoxidation of ascorbic acid has received considerably less attention than the comparable reactions with copper species. Anaerobic studies confirmed that Fe(III) can easily oxidize ascorbic acid to dehydroascorbic acid. Xu and Jordan reported two-stage kinetics for this system in the presence of an excess of the metal ion, and suggested the fast formation of iron(III) ascorbate complexes which undergo reversible electron transfer steps (21). However, Bansch and coworkers did not find spectral evidence for the formation of ascorbate complexes in excess ascorbic acid (22). On the basis of a combined pH, temperature and pressure dependence study these authors confirmed that the oxidation by Fe(H20)g+ proceeds via an outer-sphere mechanism, while the reaction with Fe(H20)50H2+ is substitution-controlled and follows an inner-sphere electron transfer path. To some extent, these results may contradict with the model proposed by Taqui Khan and Martell (6), because the oxidation by the metal ion may take place before the ternary oxygen complex is actually formed in Eq. (17). 

In alkaline solution (pH 11), the complex is present as a p-oxo dimer and ascorbic acid is fully deprotonated. In the absence of oxygen, kinetic traces show the reduction of Fe(III) to Fe(II) with a reaction time on the order of an hour at [H2A] =5xlO-3M. The product [Fen(TPPS)] is very sensitive to oxidation and is quickly transformed to Fe(III) when 02 is added. This leads to a specific induction period in the kinetic traces which increases with increasing [02]. The net result of the induction period is the catalytic two-electron autoxidation of ascorbic acid in accordance with the following kinetic model (23) ... 

The kinetic consequence of the non-participating ligand was also noticed in the autoxidation reactions catalyzed by Ru(III) ion, Ru(EDTA) (1 1) and Ru(IMDA) (1 1) (EDTA = ethylenediaminetetraace-tate, IMDA = iminodiacetate) (24,25). Each reaction was found to be first order in ascorbic acid and the catalysts and, owing to the protolytic equilibrium between HA /H2A, an inverse concentration dependence was confirmed for [H+]. Only the oxygen dependencies were different as the Ru(III)-catalyzed reaction was half-order in [02], whereas the rates of the Ru(III)-chelate-catalyzed reactions were independent of [02]. In the latter cases, the rate constants were in good agreement with those... 

The presence of ascorbic acid as a co-substrate enhanced the rate of the Ru(EDTA)-catalyzed autoxidation in the order cyclohexane < cyclohexanol < cyclohexene (148). The reactions were always first-order in [H2A]. It was concluded that these reactions occur via a Ru(EDTA)(H2A)(S)(02) adduct, in which ascorbic acid promotes the cleavage of the 02 unit and, as a consequence, O-transfer to the substrate. While the model seems to be consistent with the experimental observations, it leaves open some very intriguing questions. According to earlier results from the same laboratory (24,25), the Ru(EDTA) catalyzed autoxidation of ascorbic acid occurs at a comparable or even a faster rate than the reactions listed in Table III. It follows, that the interference from this side reaction should not be neglected in the detailed kinetic model, in particular because ascorbic acid may be completely consumed before the oxidation of the other substrate takes place. 

The main features of the copper catalyzed autoxidation of ascorbic acid were summarized in detail in Section III. Recently, Strizhak and coworkers demonstrated that in a continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR) as well as in a batch reactor, the reaction shows various non-linear phenomena, such as bi-stability, oscillations and stochastic resonance (161). The results from the batch experiments can be suitably illustrated with a two-dimensional parameter diagram shown in Pig. 5. 

In Fig. 6, separate regions of bi-stability, oscillations and single stable steady-states can be noticed. This cross-shaped phase diagram is common for many non-linear chemical systems containing autocatalytic steps, and this was used as an argument to suggest that the Cu(II) ion catalyzed autoxidation of the ascorbic acid is also autocatalytic. The... 

Dunn JA, Ahmed MU, Murtiashaw MH, Richardson JM, Walla MD, Thorpe SR and Baynes JW (1990) Reaction of ascorbate with lysine and protein under autoxidizing conditions formation of N-(carboxymethyl)lysine by reaction between lysine and products of autoxidation of ascorbate. Biochemistry 29, 10964-10970. 

Slight SH, Prabhakaram M, Shin DB, Feather MS and Ortwerth BJ (1992) The extent of N-(carboxymethyl)lysine formation in lens proteins and polylysine by the autoxidation products of ascorbic acid. Biochim Biophys Acta 1117, 199-206. 

Anthocyanins have the potential to moderate the total oxidative load via three mechanisms. First, they can chelate to copper and iron, thereby decreasing the possibility of hydroxyl radical production from Haber-Weiss reactions. These chelates might also protect other low molecular weight antioxidants (LMWAs), such as ascorbate and a-tocopherol, from autoxidation by transition metals.Anthocyanin-transition metal chelation has been demonstrated in vitro many times,but is unlikely to feature significantly in planta. 

Human ceruloplasmin inhibits lipid autoxidation induced by ascorbate or inorganic Fe It is considered an acute-phase protein with a beneficial effect in inflammation . It was suggested that ceruloplasmin acts as a scavenger of OJ radicals, as it inhibited the reduction of Fe(III)-cytochrome c and of nitroblue tetrazolium in the presence of xanthine oxidase, acetaldehyde, and dioxygen as an OJ-generating system A mechanism without reduction of Cu , similar to that... 

The autoxidation of ascorbate, a cosubstrate of dopamine P-monooxygenase, induces the degradation of most proteins including catalase and dopamine p-monooxygenase, but with the exception of (Cu,Zn)-SOD. Catalase protects dopamine P-monooxy-genase and is therefore generally added in the assay systems . The apparent activation or rather the stabilization of the enzyme (6.5 pg) by small amounts of catalase (3.1 pg) was enhanced by native but not by boiled SOD (100 pg) and also by similar amounts of serumalbumin (100 pg) or of boiled catalase (65 pg)... 

The effect of SOD points to the intervention of Oj in the autoxidation of ascorbate. Proteins in large amounts could react with the strong oxidizing agent formed in this Udenfriend s system , thus protecting the enzyme. The ineffectiveness of boiled SOD could be due to its amino-acid composition (See Sect. 4.1.2). While O did not inactivate dopamine P-monooxygenase the rate pf inactivation in the presence of... 

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