Fully automatic flow method for the determination of scavenging capacity against nitric oxide radicals

In the present work, a fluorimetric automatic method based on multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA) was developed for in vitro evaluation of scavenging capacity against nitric oxide (NO) using 4,5-diaminofluorescein (DAF-2) as an NO-selective fluorogenic probe. The MSFIA manifold was assembled to perform the in-line generation of NO and the competitive reaction of putative scavenger molecules and DAF-2 with NO at conditions close to those found in vivo regarding temperature (37°C), pH (7.4), and concentration of NO (less than 1 μM). This approach allowed the evaluation of scavenging capacity against NO by endogenous antioxidant molecules, pharmaceutical compounds, and human plasma. IC₅₀ values were calculated for rutin (1.30 ± 0.02 μM, positive control), cysteine (321 ± 8 μM), reduced glutathione (1106 ± 93 μM), uric acid (134 ± 12 μM), dipyrone (1.36 ± 0.06 μM), and captopril (363 ± 28 μM). A high degree of automation was attained as the successive dilution of antioxidant standard solutions required for IC₅₀ assessment was performed automatically, in a dilution chamber placed in the flow system. A determination throughput of 16 h^-1 and a good precision were attained (relative standard deviation between 1.6 and 9.0%), fostering the application of the proposed method to routine/screening analysis of scavenging capacity against NO.     

Potential of multisyringe flow-based multicommutated systems

This work is aimed at emphasizing the potential of the multicommutated systems based on the multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA) modality. First, the characteristics, advantages and withdraws offered by flow analysis systems based on the different non-segmented modalities are briefly described. In these systems, multicommutation and computer control of the analytical process occupy a predominant place, as in the case of sequential injection analysis (SIA), multicommutated flow injection analysis (MCFIA), MSFIA and multipumping flow systems (MPFS). Next, several examples are given and different aspects of the implementation of analysers based on MSFIA designs for the construction of different analysis systems, including intelligent (smart) systems, use of sample pre-treatment automatic systems, for chromatographic and non-chromatographic determinations as well as use of monolithic or capillary electrophoresis columns are considered.     

Conductometric determination of ammonium by a multisyringe flow injection system applying gas diffusion

A multisyringe flow injection system (MSFIA) coupled to a gas-diffusion cell has been developed for the conductometric determination of ammonium in different water samples. Operation strategies, membrane, reagent concentrations, and flow rates have been studied to optimize the sensitivity of detection and to fit the required working range. The proposed MSFIA system has been compared with former FIA and SIA systems using gas diffusion. The system was applied to the determination of ammonium in water samples of different matrices in order to evaluate its performance. These samples were coastal waters, pond waters, and compost aqueous extracts. Good recoveries of 102?±?13% were obtained and no significant differences with the reference methods were found. The system can be used for a wide concentration range of ammonia, from 0.075 to 360?mg?L^?1, without sample dilution and with a precision better than 2% of RSD. The throughput of the method was 32 injections per hour.     

Multisyringe flow injection analysis system for automation of standard addition calibration method

In the present work, the multi-channel features of multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA) were exploited for the first time to implement calibration based on standard addition method (SAM). For this, standard solutions containing different concentrations of target analyte were placed in each syringe of the multisyringe and connected to a flow network where in-line mixing of sample and standard through a merging zone approach was established prior to detection of analyte. Using this strategy, artifacts reported before in SAM using flow injection analysis were avoided as the concentration of the analyte in the resulting mixture was related to the dilution of sample and added standard within the system, and the concentration of all matrix components was kept constant during all measurements. The feasibility of the proposed MSFIA system was assessed through application to potentiometric determination of chloride ion in electroplating bath and milk samples. Results obtained for samples (n = 15) were not statistically different from those provided by titrimetric procedures, with an excellent throughput (20–31 samples h^{− 1}), comprising four-level addition of chloride ion.     

Automated determination of uranium(VI) at ultra trace levels exploiting flow techniques and spectrophotometric detection using a liquid waveguide capillary cell

Rapid and fully automated multisyringe flow-injection analysis (MSFIA) with a multi-pumping flow system (MPFS) coupled to a long path-length liquid waveguide capillary cell (LWCC) is proposed for the determination of uranium(VI) at ultra trace levels. On-line separation and pre-concentration of uranium is carried out by means of a TRU resin. After elution, uranium(VI) is spectrophotometrically detected after reaction with arsenazo-III. Combination of the MSFIA and MPFS techniques with the TRU-resin enables the analysis to be performed in a short time, using large sample volumes and achieving high selectivity and sensitivity levels. A detection limit of 12.6 ng L⁻¹ (ppt) is reached for a 100-mL sample volume. The versatility of the proposed method also enables pre-concentration of variable sample volumes, enabling application of the analysis to a wide concentration range. Reproducibility of better than 5% and a resin durability of 40 injections should be emphasized. The developed method was successfully applied to different types of environmental sample matrices with recoveries between 95 and 108%.     

Construction of a New Flow‐through Cell for Screen Printed Electrodes

In this paper a new flow‐through cell for voltammetric determinations using screen printed electrodes is described. This cell is much simpler than one with similar performances described in a previous work. This new flow‐through cell has been coupled to a multisyringe flow injection system (MSFIA) and to a multiport selection valve allowing the online calibration using the standard addition method. The uses of the MSFIA, together with the small volume of the flow cell and the reduced surface area of the solid phase electrode (SPE) have considerably reduced the volume of reagents and samples to be used. This system has allowed obtaining similar or better detection limits than those obtained using other techniques and flow analysis devices such as SIA, FIA, LOV and microfluidic channels. Graphite ink has been used for the development of screen‐printed electrodes. The determination of Cd and Pb with ASV has been made through its co‐deposition with Bi. For this, Bi(III) solution and the sample were mixed in line. Due to the creation of a new Bi film in each voltammetric cycle, very well defined and reproducible peaks corresponding to Cd and Pb have been obtained. The use of Bi is one of the most important advantages of this system, since it is a recognized substitute for Hg, and its impact on the environment is much lower due to its reduced toxicity. The fact of being an automatic system, the low cost of its components, its simplicity and ease of handling, make it a system that could be useful for monitoring tasks in fieldwork, or measurements on board.     

Synthesis and antioxidant activities of new nickel(II) complexes derived from 4-benzyloxysalicylidene-S-methyl/propyl thiosemicarbazones

Six nickel(II) complexes of the N₂O₂ chelating thiosemicarbazones were synthesized using N¹-4-benzyloxysalicylidene-S-methyl/propyl thiosemicarbazone and methoxy-substitute-salicylaldehydes in the presence of Ni(II) ion by template reaction. The structures of thiosemicarbazones and nickel(II) complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, UV-Vis, IR, and ¹H-NMR spectroscopies. The structure of the N¹-4-benzyloxysalicylidene-S-propyl thiosemicarbazone ( 2 ) was determined by X-ray single-crystal diffraction method. The total antioxidant capacities of synthesized compounds were evaluated by using cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) method. The thiosemicarbazones exhibited more potent antioxidant capacity than Ni(II) complexes. Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) of 1c was found highest in tested nickel(II) complexes. In addition, antioxidant activities of tested compounds were evaluated by using the hydroxyl radical, DPPH radical, and ABTS radical scavenging abilities of these compounds.     

Electroanalytical Approach to Evaluate Antioxidant Capacity in Honeys: Proposal of an Antioxidant Index

A novel electrochemical route to estimate the antioxidant capacity in honey samples is proposed just using flow injection analysis. The analytical strategy involved the selective oxidation of polyphenolic compounds using two different target potentials, +0.8 and +0.5 V, at two different pHs. An oxidation current obtained at the fixed potential was used as an analytical guide of the antioxidant activity of the target honeys. Chemometrics (correlation and principal component analysis, PCA) demonstrated the significance of the electrochemical protocol versus the traditional spectrophotometric ones in the evaluation of antioxidant capacity and revealed the role of detection potential as a screening variable. The proposed protocol is very simple and fast. However, the most relevant merit of the electrochemical procedure is its inherent versatility which allows the evaluation of the antioxidant activity under predesigned controlled oxidation conditions. In addition, since intercept was statistically zero, its corresponding antioxidant content using just a calibration factor is proposed thus simplifying the calibration‐analysis process. As a result, an electrochemical antioxidant index (EAI) is proposed.     

Honey and Pollen Phenolic Composition,Antioxidant Capacity,and DNA Protecting Properties

The phenolic composition, antioxidant capacity, and the dsDNA oxidative damage protecting properties, of ten honey and two pollen samples, from different countries, Portugal, Algeria, Romania, and Greece, using differential pulse voltammetry, DPPH^. spectrophotometric assay, reversed‐phase high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection, and agarose gel electrophoresis, were investigated. The honey samples highest antioxidant capacity was from Multi floral from Greece and the lowest for Mono floral black locust from Romania. The pollen from Romania presented higher antioxidant capacity compared with the pollen from Portugal but both pollen samples have a greater antioxidant capacity compared with the honey samples. In the presence of honey and pollen the DNA oxidative damage, induced by hydroxyl radicals generated through the Fenton reaction, was decreased.     

MSFIA-LOV system for Ra isolation and pre-concentration from water samples previous radiometric detection

An automatic system based on multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA) and lab-on-valve (LOV) flow techniques for separation and pre-concentration of ²²⁶Ra from drinking and natural water samples has been developed. The analytical protocol combines two different procedures: the Ra adsorption on MnO₂ and the BaSO₄ co-precipitation, achieving more selectivity especially in water samples with low radium levels.     

Multielement analysis and antioxidant capacity of Merlot wine clones developed in Montenegro

The overall aim of this paper was to compare the multielement composition and antioxidant capacity of two Montenegrin Merlot wines obtained from specific vine clones (VCR1 and VCR 101) along with commercial Merlot wine throughout the consecutive vintages in 2010 and 2011. Elemental composition was analysed using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Additionally, antioxidant capacity was assessed by cyclic voltammetry. VCR 1 wine from 2011 stood out for its elemental composition. On the other hand, antioxidant capacity of VCR 101 wines was the highest one for the both vintages. According to the experimental data obtained, all three wines are good source of essential elements and products with a significant antioxidant activity and specific geographical origin.     

Synthesis, characterization and antioxidant capacity of naringenin-oxime

The recognition of the benefits of polyphenolic antioxidants is eliciting increasing interest in the search for new polyphenolic derivatives with improved antioxidant activity. Since naringenin (4',5,7-trihydroxyflavanone) (NG) is one of the most abundant citrus and grapefruit polyphenolics and flavanone oximes were used in the synthesis of anticancer and radioprotector compounds having antiradical activity, the corresponding oxime of NG, naringenin oxime (NG-Ox), was synthesized and investigated. The structure of NG-Ox was characterized by FT-IR, (1)H NMR, elemental analysis, and the synthesized compound was screened for its antioxidant capacity by using the cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) method. Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) of NG-Ox was measured to be higher than that of the parent compound, NG. Other parameters of antioxidant activity (scavenging effects on *OH, O(2)*-, and H(2)O(2)) of NG-Ox were also determined.     

Antioxidant capacity and phenolic composition of leaves from 10 Bene (Pistacia atlantica subsp. kurdica) genotypes

Leaves of 10 Bene genotypes were collected from six provinces (West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Ilam, Hamedan and Lorestan) in Iran. This study was carried out to better characterise the total phenolic and flavonoid contents, antioxidant capacity and phenolic composition, as well as to evaluate the correlation between content of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity in 10 genotypes of Bene. The antioxidant activity of leaf extracts was measured using different assays: ferric reducing antioxidant power, nitric oxide radical scavenging and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl. The results indicated that the antioxidant capacity can be related to total phenolic and flavonoid content, so that among all the genotypes studied here, the highest and the lowest phenolic content and antioxidant activity were observed in B2 and B10 genotypes, respectively. Analysing the phenolic composition using high performance liquid chromatography, caffeic acid, vanillic acid, ferulic acid and sinapic acid were found in all investigated genotypes.     

Comparative evaluation of various total antioxidant capacity assays applied to phenolic compounds with the CUPRAC assay

It would be desirable to establish and standardize methods that can measure the total antioxidant capacity level directly from vegetable extracts containing phenolics. Antioxidant capacity assays may be broadly classified as electron transfer (ET)- and hydrogen atom transfer (HAT)-based assays. The majority of HAT assays are kinetics-based, and involve a competitive reaction scheme in which antioxidant and substrate compete for peroxyl radicals thermally generated through the decomposition of azo compounds. ET-based assays measure the capacity of an antioxidant in the reduction of an oxidant, which changes colour when reduced. ET assays include the ABTS/TEAC, CUPRAC, DPPH, Folin-Ciocalteu and FRAP methods, each using different chromogenic redox reagents with different standard potentials. This review intends to offer a critical evaluation of existing antioxidant assays applied to phenolics, and reports the development by our research group of a simple and low-cost antioxidant capacity assay for dietary polyphenols, vitamins C and E, and human serum antioxidants, utilizing the copper(II)-neocuproine reagent as the chromogenic oxidizing agent, which we haved named the CUPRAC (cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity) method. This method offers distinct advantages over other ET-based assays, namely the selection of working pH at physiological pH (as opposed to the Folin and FRAP methods, which work at alkaline and acidic pHs, respectively), applicability to both hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidants (unlike Folin and DPPH), completion of the redox reactions for most common flavonoids (unlike FRAP), selective oxidation of antioxidant compounds without affecting sugars and citric acid commonly contained in foodstuffs and the capability to assay -SH bearing antioxidants (unlike FRAP). Other similar ET-based antioxidant assays that we have developed or modified for phenolics are the Fe(III)- and Ce(IV)-reducing capacity methods.     

Antioxidant activity of different parts of Pistacia khinjuk Stocks fruit and its correlation to phenolic composition

The fruits of Pistacia khinjuk Stocks were collected from Ilam province, Iran. The aim of this study was to analyse antioxidant capacity and phenolic composition of different parts of P. khinjuk fruit. The antioxidant capacity of extracts was measured using different assays: ferric reducing ability of plasma, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and nitric oxide radical scavenging. The phenolic composition of P. khinjuk fruit is reported for the first time. Amongst different parts of the fruit analysed in this study, hull extract contained the highest total phenolic and flavonoid contents. We observed a high correlation between different antioxidant activity and total phenolic and flavonoid contents. Therefore, antioxidant capacity can be related to total phenolic and flavonoid contents. A correlation analysis revealed that ascorbic acid, gallic acid, rutin, caffeic acid, ferulic acid and sinapic acid were the phenolic compounds mainly responsible for antioxidant power of the fruit extracts.     

Composition of essential oil and antioxidant capacity of Centaurea drabifolia Sm. subsp. detonsa (Bornm.) Wagenitz, endemic to Turkey

In this study, composition of essential oil and antioxidant capacity of Centaurea drabifolia subsp. detonsa were investigated. The antioxidant capacity of the methanolic extract was evaluated by various methods including measuring the total phenolic content, total antioxidant capacity, free radical scavenging activity (DPPH assay), β-carotene/linoleic acid bleaching assay and ferric and cupric ion reducing power assay. The composition of essential oil was identified by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Totally, 41 compounds were described in the essential oil. Germacrene D (44.829%) was determined as the major compound of the essential oil. The total phenolic content, total antioxidant capacity, inhibition rate of oxidation of linoleic acid, IC(50) (in DPPH assay) and EC(50) (in reducing power) value were found to be 40.454?mg?GAE/g, 100.840?mg?AAE/g, 65.639%, 39.584?μg?mL(-1) and 0.603?mg?mL(-1), respectively. The results indicated that the extract of C. drabifolia subsp. detonsa has strong antioxidant properties and this species can be used as a natural antioxidant in food processing and pharmaceutical industries.     

Phenolic Composition and Total Antioxidant Capacity by Electrochemical,Spectrophotometric and HPLC‐EC Evaluation in Portuguese Red and White Wines

Phenolic composition and in vitro total antioxidant capacity have been evaluated, in red and white Portuguese wines, by electrochemical methods, spectrophotometric methods, and reverse‐phase high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC‐EC). The different phenolic compounds present in seventeen red and white wines, with different grape varieties, and from different geographical locations, were successfully identified and detected. The wines in vitro total antioxidant capacity, using the method of capture of diphenilpicrilhydrazil (DPPH^.) free radical “efficient concentration” (EC₅₀), and the electrochemical quantitative index (EI), was determined. The wine with the highest total antioxidant capacity exhibited the lowest antioxidant power, and the EI and EC₅₀ assays had a very good correlation.     

Aqueous Extract of Crataegus azarolus Protects Against DNA Damage in Human Lymphoblast Cell K562 and Enhances Antioxidant Activity

The present study was carried out to characterize the cellular antioxidant effect of the aqueous extract of Crataegus azarolus and its antigenotoxic potential using human myelogenous cells, K562. The antioxidant capacity of this extract was evaluated by determining its cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) in K562 cells. Also, preceding antigenotoxicity assessment, its eventual genotoxicity property was investigated by evaluating its capacity to induce the DNA degradation of treated cell nuclei. As no genotoxicity was detected at different exposure times, its ability to protect cell DNA against H₂O₂ oxidative effect was investigated, using the “comet assay.” It appears that 800 μg/mL of extract inhibited the genotoxicity induced by H₂O₂ with a rate of 41.30 %, after 4 h of incubation. In addition, this extract revealed a significant cellular antioxidant capacity against the reactive oxygen species in K562 cells.     

树状桥联半受阻酚类抗氧剂的合成与抗氧化性能

从端基为胺基树状大分子出发, 合成了一种具有多个半受阻酚抗氧化基团、 结构对称的树状桥联半受阻酚类抗氧剂. 元素分析、 傅里叶变换红外光谱(FTIR)、 氢核磁共振波谱(¹H NMR)、 质谱(MS)和冰点降低法证实合成的树状桥联半受阻酚类抗氧剂的化学结构与理论结构一致, 纯度较高. 采用1,1-二苯基-2-苦基肼(DPPH)法和差热扫描量热(DSC)法研究了树状桥联半受阻酚类抗氧剂的抗氧化性能, 并与相应的树状桥联全受阻酚类抗氧剂进行了对比. 研究结果表明, 树状桥联半受阻酚类抗氧剂清除DPPH自由基的活性不仅与清除体系中抗氧剂的浓度有关, 而且与清除时间有关; 清除时间为30 min时的抗氧化能力是清除时间为400 min时抗氧化能力的近2倍. 树状桥联半受阻酚类抗氧剂的半受阻效应使其在DPPH体系和HDPE树脂中的抗氧化能力均优于其相应的树状桥联全受阻酚类抗氧剂.