Deciphering the antioxidant capacity of common vitamins against specific reactive oxygen species by nuclear magnetic...

Antioxidant studies are important for understanding oxidative stress and developing preservative techniques for food and medicine. There has been increasing interest in the study of natural antioxidants, such as vitamins, due to their biocompatibility, relatively low cost, and high antioxidant capacity. Spectroscopic tools, including fluorescence and electron spin resonance, have been developed to evaluate the antioxidant capacity. However, it is difficult for these methods to measure the antioxidant capacity against specific reactive oxygen species (ROS). Based on a recently developed ¹⁹F NMR method to differentiate and quantify specific ROS, we have hypothesized that the antioxidant capacity of chemicals against specific ROS (¹O₂, H₂O₂, and OH^•) can be determined. In this work, we have investigated the antioxidant capacity of some common vitamins (provitamin A, vitamin B₂, vitamin C, and vitamin E) against specific ROS. This work showcases the capability and potential of our ¹⁹F NMR method for other ROS-pertinent studies.