Novel assaying method for the accurate and rapid analysis of antioxidant total capacity based on...

We introduce a novel method, namely IrRAC, for assessing total antioxidant capacity utilizing the single electron oxidant hexachloroiridate(IV). This method leverages the 488 nm absorption band of [IrCl₆]^2- largely reducing interferences from antioxidants and their oxidation products. [IrCl₆]^2- is stable 6 h in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) ensuring consistent and reproducible absorbance readings and rendering spectrophotometric determinations under physiological neutrality. Individual assessments of 23 antioxidants reveal a linear correlation between decreasing absorbance and increasing antioxidant concentration. When the IrRAC assay was compared with several established water-based methods, strong correlations were found. Importantly, [IrCl₆]^2- shows a minimal oxidation of non-antioxidative substances. Moreover, IrRAC performs well with synthetic antioxidant mixtures and real samples, highlighting that the nature of antioxidants dominates the assay without much disturbance. Commercial availability of K₂[IrCl₆] eliminates the need of pretreatment of the oxidant. Undoubtedly, the new method confers a compelling and cost-effective alternative to the existing electron transfer-based methodologies.