Essential Features for Antioxidant Capacity of Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)

Abstract

\n Vitamin C or ascorbic acid is an indispensable micronutrient for human health found principally on citrus species such as lemon and orange fruits, and vegetables. It was involved in the production of proteins such as collagen. Its biochemical mechanism is related to its antioxidant capacity, however its function at the cellular level is still unclear. Several theoretical studies about antioxidant and redox mechanisms for ascorbic acid were suggested, however no derivative was proposed. Thereby, an electronic study of antioxidant capacity for ascorbic acid derivatives was performed using theoretical chemistry at the DFT/ B3LYP/6-311++(2d,2p) level of theory. Simplified derivatives show that enol hydroxyls are more important than any other functional group. The vicinal enolic hydroxyl on β-position are more important for antioxidant capacity of ascorbic than hydroxyl on α-position. According to our molecular modifications, the keto-alkene compound showed the best values when compared to ascorbic acid in some molecular characteristics. New promising structural derivatives related to ascorbic acid can be developed in the future.