Temperature and solvent effects on radical scavenging ability of phenols

In this work we have demonstrated the free radical scavenging ability of two-hydroxy (catechol, hydroquinone, resorcinol) and three-hydroxy (phloroglucinol, pyrogallol, 1,2,4-benzenetriol) phenols against the diphenylpicrylhydrazyl radical at various temperatures (15-40 degrees C) and in different solvent media. Kinetic measurements, made by the stopped-flow method, showed that the phenols with OH groups in the ortho positions have the largest rate coefficients compared to those with OH groups in the meta and para positions at all temperatures and in all solvent media. Among the ortho-structured phenols catechol, pyrogallol, and 1,2,4-benzenetriol, pyrogallol (three OH groups ortho to each other) had the greatest radical scavenging ability. This suggested that intramolecular hydrogen bonding in phenols controlled the rate of radical scavenging ability. The radical scavenging ability of phenols was fastest in methanol and slowest in THF, which emphasized the importance of the interactive behavior of the phenolic OH with the solvent. We concluded from our kinetic data together with our theoretically calculated OH bond dissociation enthalpies of phenols that the OH position played a crucial role in addition to the temperature and nature of the medium in determining the rate of the radical scavenging ability of polyphenols.