Lycopene control of benzophenone-sensitized lipid peroxidation

Lycopene antioxidant activity in the presence of two different mixtures of phospholipids in hexane solution, under continuous regime of UV-irradiation from three different ranges (UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C) has been evaluated in this work. Lycopene expected role was to control lipid peroxidation, by scavenging free radicals generated by UV-irradiation, in the presence and in the absence of selected photosensitizer, benzophenone. This work shows that lycopene undergoes to UV-induced destruction (bleaching), highly dependent on the incident photons energy input, more expressed in the presence than in the absence of benzophenone. The further increase (“excess”) of its bleaching is undoubtedly related to the further increase of its antioxidant activity in the presence of benzophenone, having the same cause: increase of (phospholipids peroxidation) chain-breaking activities.