Free radical Fenton reaction

In fact, bivalent iron ions intensively catalyze H202 dissociation to free radicals (Fenton s reagent) and then oxidize themselves to Fe3+ ions. Free radicals can be coordinated with iron ions and implement a dehydrogenation reaction interacting with hydrogen atoms in positions... 

Minisci, Galli and co-workers have studied a variety of radical reactions which result in the formation of organic azides. These processes commonly involve the interaction of an organic peroxide, an alkene, and azide ion in the presence of a ferrous-ferric redox system. The initial step is the reduction of the peroxide by Fe " " to form a free alkoxy radical (Fenton reaction, equation 104). 

Whatever the actual reagents might be, it has been shown that O2 can oxidize sulfite and initiate a free-radical chain reaction, or oxidize iron-containing clusters present in enzymes, such as aconitase and fumarases, freeing Fe(II), which in turn initiates a Fenton-like chemistry hy interacting with hydrogen peroxide (317). Fe(II) release from transferrin has also been observed following O2 secretion by stimulated human neutrophils (318). 

Oxidation of Organic Contaminants with Hydrogen Peroxide Catalyzed hy AC Recently, there has been renewed interest in the catalytic system H2O2/AC, due to its potential application in the oxidation of organic contaminants in water and wastewater. The key factor for this application is the formation of free radicals [see reactions (6.12) and (6.13)] which are known to be very strong oxidants in the liquid phase. Carbon materials can act as electron-transfer catalysts, similar to the Haber-Weiss mechanism known from the Fenton reaction, with AC and AC" as the reduced and oxidized catalyst states [161] ... 

Hydrogen peroxide may react directiy or after it has first ionized or dissociated into free radicals. Often, the reaction mechanism is extremely complex and may involve catalysis or be dependent on the environment. Enhancement of the relatively mild oxidizing action of hydrogen peroxide is accompHshed in the presence of certain metal catalysts (4). The redox system Fe(II)—Fe(III) is the most widely used catalyst, which, in combination with hydrogen peroxide, is known as Fenton s reagent (5). 

Consequently, the antioxidant activity of GA in biological systems is still an unresolved issue, and therefore it requires a more direct knowledge of the antioxidant capacity of GA that can be obtained by in vitro experiments against different types of oxidant species. The total antioxidant activity of a compound or substance is associated with several processes that include the scavenging of free radical species (eg. HO, ROO ), ability to quench reactive excited states (triplet excited states and/ or oxygen singlet molecular 1O2), and/or sequester of metal ions (Fe2+, Cu2+) to avoid the formation of HO by Fenton type reactions. In the following sections, we will discuss the in vitro antioxidant capacity of GA for some of these processes. 

Floyd, R.A. Zs-Nagy (1984). Formation of long lived hydroxyl free radical adducts of proline and hydroxyproline in a Fenton reaction. Biochimica Bio-physica Acta, 790, 94-7. 

As strong metal ion chelators due to their catechol structure, tea flavonoids are able to bind and thus decrease the level of free cellular ferric and ferrous ions, which are required for the generation of reactive oxygen radicals via the Fenton reaction (Yang and Wang, 1993). 

Polyakov, N. E., T. V. Leshina et al. (2001c). Carotenoids as scavengers of free radicals in a Fenton reaction, antioxidants or pro-oxidants. Free Rad. Biol. Med. 31 398-404. 

It has been thought for a long time that the major route from superoxide to reactive free radicals is the superoxide-dependent Fenton reaction (Reactions 1 and 2) ... 

The formation of hydroxyl or hydroxyl-like radicals in the reaction of ferrous ions with hydrogen peroxide (the Fenton reaction) is usually considered as a main mechanism of free radical damage. However, Qian and Buettner [172] have recently proposed that at high [02]/ [H202] ratios the formation of reactive oxygen species such as perferryl ion at the oxidation of ferrous ions by dioxygen (Reaction 46) may compete with the Fenton reaction (2) ... 

Iron-stimulated free radical-mediated processes are not limited to the promotion of peroxidative reactions. For example, Pratico et al. [188] demonstrated that erythrocytes are able to modulate platelet reactivity in response to collagen via the release of free iron, which supposedly catalyzes hydroxyl radical formation by the Fenton reaction. This process resulted in an irreversible blood aggregation and could be relevant to the stimulation by iron overload of atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. 

MF effects on FA relatives and healthy donors. (Fanconi anemia is an autosomal recessive disease associated with the overproduction of free radicals, Chapter 31.) It has been shown earlier [215] that FA leukocytes produce the enhanced amount of hydroxyl or hydroxyl-like free radicals, which are probably formed by the Fenton reaction. It was suggested that MF would be able to accelerate hydroxyl radical production by FA leukocytes. Indeed, we found that MF significantly enhanced luminol-amplified CL produced by non-stimulated and PMA-stimulated FA leukocytes but did not affect at all oxygen radical production by leukocytes from FA relatives and healthy donors (Table 21.3). It is interesting that MF did not also affect the calcium ionophore A23187-stimulated CL by FA leukocytes, indicating the absence of the calcium-mediated mechanism of MF activity, at least for FA leukocytes. 

Lipid peroxidation is probably the most studied oxidative process in biological systems. At present, Medline cites about 30,000 publications on lipid peroxidation, but the total number of studies must be much more because Medline does not include publications before 1970. Most of the earlier studies are in vitro studies, in which lipid peroxidation is carried out in lipid suspensions, cellular organelles (mitochondria and microsomes), or cells and initiated by simple chemical free radical-produced systems (the Fenton reaction, ferrous ions + ascorbate, carbon tetrachloride, etc). In these in vitro experiments reaction products (mainly, malon-dialdehyde (MDA), lipid hydroperoxides, and diene conjugates) were analyzed by physicochemical methods (optical spectroscopy and later on, HPLC and EPR spectroscopies). These studies gave the important information concerning the mechanism of lipid peroxidation, the structures of reaction products, etc. 

Thus, superoxide itself is obviously too inert to be a direct initiator of lipid peroxidation. However, it may be converted into some reactive species in superoxide-dependent oxidative processes. It has been suggested that superoxide can initiate lipid peroxidation by reducing ferric into ferrous iron, which is able to catalyze the formation of free hydroxyl radicals via the Fenton reaction. The possibility of hydroxyl-initiated lipid peroxidation was considered in earlier studies. For example, Lai and Piette [8] identified hydroxyl radicals in NADPH-dependent microsomal lipid peroxidation by EPR spectroscopy using the spin-trapping agents DMPO and phenyl-tcrt-butylnitrone. They proposed that hydroxyl radicals are generated by the Fenton reaction between ferrous ions and hydrogen peroxide formed by the dismutation of superoxide. Later on, the formation of hydroxyl radicals was shown in the oxidation of NADPH catalyzed by microsomal NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase [9,10]. 

As mentioned above, in contrast to classic antioxidant vitamins E and C, flavonoids are able to inhibit free radical formation as free radical scavengers and the chelators of transition metals. As far as chelators are concerned their inhibitory activity is a consequence of the formation of transition metal complexes incapable of catalyzing the formation of hydroxyl radicals by the Fenton reaction. In addition, as shown below, some of these complexes, for example, iron- and copper-rutin complexes, may acquire additional antioxidant activity. 

Chelators of transition metals, mainly iron and copper, are usually considered as antioxidants because of their ability to inhibit free radical-mediated damaging processes. Actually, the so-called chelating therapy has been in the use probably even earlier than antioxidant therapy because it is an obvious pathway to treat the development of pathologies depending on metal overload (such as calcium overload in atherosclerosis or iron overload in thalassemia) with compounds capable of removing metals from an organism. Understanding of chelators as antioxidants came later when much attention was drawn to the possibility of in vivo hydroxyl radical formation via the Fenton reaction ... 

As hydroxyl or hydroxyl-like radicals are produced by the superoxide-driven Fenton reaction, superoxide overproduction must also occur in thalassemic cells. First, it has been shown by Grinberg et al. [382], who demonstrated that thalassemic erythrocytes produced the enhanced amount of superoxide in comparison with normal cells in the presence of prooxidant antimalarial drug primaquine. Later on, it has been found that the production of superoxide and free radical-mediated damage (measured through the MetHb/Hb ratio) was much higher in thalassemic erythrocytes even in the absence of prooxidants, although quinones (menadione, l,4-naphthoquinone-2-methyl-3-sulfonate) and primaquine further increased oxidative stress [383]. Overproduction of superoxide was also observed in thalassemic leukocytes [384]. 

While free iron is a catalyst of hydroxyl or hydroxyl-like radical overproduction by FA leukocytes, the other stimuli might also exist, which are responsible for the enhancement of the formation of superoxide, a precursor of hydroxyl radicals in the superoxide-dependent Fenton reaction. Thus, Schultz and Shahidi [415] showed that such a stimulus could be TNF-a, which was detected in the plasma of FA patients but not in healthy donors. Another factor of enhanced oxidative stress in FA might be a low thioredoxin level, which may cause an increasing DNA damage [416]. 

While H202 is not a free radical, it can be rapidly decomposed via the Fenton reaction ... 

Iron. Iron plays a vital role during development and growth and is an important factor in many metabolic reactions, including protein synthesis as a co factor of both heme and nonheme enzymes, and in the development of neuronal processes. However, free iron, particularly Fe2+, is highly toxic by virtue of its ability to trigger cellular deleterious effects, including the Fenton reaction, which generates free radical species and lipid peroxidation (Ch. 32). 

---