Influence of iron chelation on the antioxidant activity of flavonoids

The antioxidant activity of flavonoids is believed to be caused by a combination of iron chelation and free radical scavenging activities. Several authors have attempted to separate the iron chelation and scavenging activity of flavonoids in order to study these processes individually. There are, however, several contradictions in the literature, and the outcome largely depends on the experimental conditions and the type of assay used. In order to investigate the contribution of iron chelation to the antioxidant activity of flavonoids, we determined the antioxidant activity of a group of flavonoids from several subclasses in an iron-independent (azobisamidinopropane, [ABAP]) lipid peroxidation (LPO) process and compared them with data from an iron-dependent (Fe2+/ascorbate) LPO process, which we determined earlier. These LPO data were compared with oxidation potentials, which were earlier found to have a good correlation with the scavenging activity of flavonoids. For most flavonoids, it was found that there was no difference between the LPO assays, indicating that iron chelation is either a constant factor among the flavonoids or is not significant in these types of assays. The IC50 values in the iron-independent LPO assay showed an excellent correlation with the oxidation potentials (Ep/2). Therefore, it can be concluded that for the majority of flavonoids tested, iron chelation does not play a role in the antioxidant activity in microsomal lipid peroxidation.