Hydrogen, reaction with hydroxyl radicals

The stability of perchlorofluoroalkanes is due to the absence of hydrogen atoms that may be abstracted by reaction with hydroxyl radicals. Attention has therefore been directed to chlorofluo-roalkanes containing at least one hydrogen atom (Hayman and Derwent 1997). Considerable effort has also been directed to the reactions of chloroalkanes and chloroalkenes, and this deserves a rather more detailed examination in the light of interest in the products that are formed. 

Nitric oxide is a physiological substrate for mammalian peroxidases [myeloperoxide (MPO), eosinophil peroxide, and lactoperoxide), which catalytically consume NO in the presence of hydrogen peroxide [60], On the other hand, NO does not affect the activity of xanthine oxidase while peroxynitrite inhibits it [61]. Nitric oxide suppresses the inactivation of CuZnSOD and NO synthase supposedly via the reaction with hydroxyl radicals [62,63]. On the other hand, SOD is able to modulate the nitrosation reactions of nitric oxide [64]. 

The oxidation scheme for halomethanes not containing a hydrogen atom is similar to that for those which do, except that it is not initiated by tropospheric reaction with hydroxyl radicals, since the fully halogenated methanes are unreactive. Consequently, substantial amounts of CFCs and halons are transported intact up into the stratosphere, where they absorb UV radiation of short wavelength and undergo photodissociation (equation 36) to a halogen atom and a trihalomethyl radical. The halogen atom Y may enter into catalytic cycles for ozone destruction, as discussed in the introduction. 

Fenton s original observation, made nearly 100 years ago, was that malic acid was rapidly oxidized by hydrogen peroxide when Fe(II) was added, but not otherwise (Fenton, 1894). Much later, Haber and Weiss (1934) suggested that such induced oxidations were due to reaction with hydroxyl radicals formed by reaction [4.7]. 

The transformation of isoquinoline has been studied both under photochemical conditions with hydrogen peroxide, and in the dark with hydroxyl radicals (Beitz et al. 1998). The former resulted in fission of the pyridine ring with the formation of phthalic dialdehyde and phthalimide, whereas the major product from the latter reaction involved oxidation of the benzene ring with formation of the isoquinoline-5,8-quinone and a hydroxylated quinone. 

Anbar, M. and Neta, P. (1967). A compilation of specific biomolecular rate constants for the reaction of hydrated electrons, hydrogen atoms and hydroxyl radicals with inorganic and organic compounds in aqueous solutions. Int. J. Appl. Radiat. Isot. 18, 493-497. 

Dilling, W.L., Gonsior, S.J., Boggs, G.U., Mendoza, C.G. (1988) Organic photochemistry. 20. A method for estimating gas-phase rate for reactions of hydroxyl radicals with organic compounds from their relative rates of reaction with hydrogen peroxide under photolysis in 1,1,2-trichlorotrifluoroethane solution. Environ. Sci. Technol. 22, 1447-1453. 

The thermodynamic functions (AH, AS, AG(298 K)) of hydrogen peroxide reactions with transition metal ions in aqueous solutions are presented in Table 10.1. We see that AG(298K) has negative values for reactions of hydroxyl radical generation with Cu1+, Cr2+, and Fe2+ ions and for reactions of hydroperoxyl radical generation with Ce4+, Co3+, and Mn3+. 

Antioxidant activity of flavonoids has already been shown about 40 years ago [90,91]. (Early data on antioxidant flavonoid activity are cited in Ref. [92].) Flavonoids are polyphenols, and therefore, their antioxidant activity depends on the reactivity of hydroxyl substituents in hydrogen atom abstraction reactions. As in the case of vitamins E and C, the most studied (and most important) reactions are the reactions with peroxyl radicals [14], hydroxyl radicals [15], and superoxide [16]. 

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