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Updated: Feb 24, 2026

Detection of Nitric Oxide and Superoxide Radical Anion by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy from Cells using Spin Traps
Published on: August 18, 2012
Triarylmethyl-based biradical as a superoxide probe
Martin Poncelet1,2, Benoit Driesschaert1,2, Andrey A Bobko1,2
1a In Vivo Multifunctional Magnetic Resonance center, Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, West Virginia University , Morgantown , WV , USA.
Abstract:
Superoxide radical represents one of the most biologically relevant reactive oxygen species involved in numerous physiological and pathophysiological processes. Superoxide measurement through the decay of an electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signal of a triarylmethyl (TAM) radical possesses the advantage of a high selectivity and relatively high rate constant of TAM reaction with the superoxide. Hereby we report a straightforward synthesis and characterization of a TAM-TAM biradical showing a high reactivity with superoxide (second-order rate constant, (6.7 ± 0.2) × 103 M-1 s-1) enabling the measurement of superoxide radical by following the increase of a sharp EPR signal associated with the formation of a TAM-quinone-methide monoradical product.
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