[Antioxidant and antibacterial activities of dimeric phenol compounds]

We studied the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of monomeric and dimeric phenol compounds. Dimeric compounds had higher antioxidant activities than monomeric compounds. Electron spin resonance spin-trapping experiments showed that phenol compounds with an allyl substituent on their aromatic rings directly scavenged superoxide, and that only eugenol trapped hydroxyl radicals. We developed a generation system of the hydroxyl radical without using any metals by adding L-DOPA and DMPO to PBS or MiliQ water in vitro. We found that eugenol trapped hydroxyl radicals directly and is metabolized to a dimer. On the other hand, dipropofol, a dimer of propofol, has strong antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria. However, it lacks solubility in water and this property is assumed to limit its efficacy. We tried to improve the solubility and found a new solubilization method of dipropofol in water with the addition of a monosaccharide or ascorbic acid.