Recent Developments in EPR Spin-trapping

Much of the early work that has been traditionally been included under the 

Electron Paramagnetic Resonance, Volume 18 The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2002 

Other materials have also been used as spin traps, though to a much lesser extent (e.g. the aci-anion of nitromethane in rapid flow studies, and (dieth-oxyphosphoryl)dithioformates, (Et0)2P(0)C(S)SR, with a range of different R groups). More recently the term spin-trapping has been extended to the trapping of NO by a range of compounds including chelotropic traps, metal ion complexes and heme proteins. Recent advances in the latter area are not covered in detail here, as this area has been extensively reviewed elsewhere.  

When a radical is spin-trapped, what is then detected by EPR is not the initial radical but an adduct of the radical, and thus in the majority of cases there is a loss of information when compared to direct EPR detection. The latter is therefore always the preferred option if at all possible. As such one of the goals of spin-trapping is to obtain the maximum amount of information from an otherwise unfavourable situation. The most important task when a species is detected by EPR after the addition of a spin-trapping agent is to identify, as far as is possible, the nature of the species present and its mechanism of formation. Mistakes in either can lead to erroneous data. As has been pointed out on a considerable number of occasions, neither is trivial or simple, and this has 

Are there any other possible routes available to the identified species in addition to true spin-trapping  

---

Lipids. Most of the recently published EPR studies on lipid peroxidation have been concerned with developments in spin-trapping methodology e.g. radical-adduct extraction and separation by HPLC, - the use of novel spin traps and the reassignment of peroxyl adducts to alkoxyl adducts ) and are covered in Chapter 2 this volume by Davies. 

---