Reşat Apak

Comparative Evaluation of Various Total Antioxidant Capacity Assays Applied to Phenolic Compounds with the CUPRAC Assay

It would be desirable to establish and standardize methods that can measure the total antioxidant capacity level directly from vegetable extracts containing phenolics. Antioxidant capacity assays may be broadly classified as electron transfer (ET)- and hydrogen atom transfer (HAT)-based assays. The majority of HAT assays are kinetics-based, and involve a competitive reaction scheme in which antioxidant and substrate compete for peroxyl radicals thermally generated through the decomposition of azo compounds. ET-based assays measure the capacity of an antioxidant in the reduction of an oxidant, which changes colour when reduced. ET assays include the ABTS/TEAC, CUPRAC, DPPH, Folin-Ciocalteu and FRAP methods, each using different chromogenic redox reagents with different standard potentials. This review intends to offer a critical evaluation of existing antioxidant assays applied to phenolics, and reports the development by our research group of a simple and low-cost antioxidant capacity assay for dietary polyphenols, vitamins C and E, and human serum antioxidants, utilizing the copper(II)-neocuproine reagent as the chromogenic oxidizing agent, which we haved named the CUPRAC (cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity) method. This method offers distinct advantages over other ET-based assays, namely the selection of working pH at physiological pH (as opposed to the Folin and FRAP methods, which work at alkaline and acidic pHs, respectively), applicability to both hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidants (unlike Folin and DPPH), completion of the redox reactions for most common flavonoids (unlike FRAP), selective oxidation of antioxidant compounds without affecting sugars and citric acid commonly contained in foodstuffs and the capability to assay -SH bearing antioxidants (unlike FRAP). Other similar ET-based antioxidant assays that we have developed or modified for phenolics are the Fe(III)- and Ce(IV)-reducing capacity methods.

Heavy metal cation retention by unconventional sorbents (red muds and fly ashes)

Toxic heavy metals, i.e. copper (II), lead (II) and cadmium (II), can be removed from water by metallurgical solid wastes, i.e. bauxite waste red muds and coal fly ashes acting as sorbents. These heavy-metal-loaded solid wastes may then be solidified by adding cement to a durable concrete mass assuring their safe disposal. Thus, toxic metals in water have been removed by sorption on to inexpensive solid waste materials as a preliminary operation of ultimate fixation. Metal uptake (sorption) and release (desorption) have been investigated by thermostatic batch experiments. The distribution ratios of metals between the solid sorbent and aqueous solution have been found as a function of sorbent type, equilibrium aqueous concentration of metal and temperature. The breakthrough volumes of the heavy metal solutions have been measured by dynamic column experiments so as to determine the saturation capacities of the sorbents. The sorption data have been analysed and fitted to linearized adsorption isotherms. These observations are believed to constitute a database for the treatment of one industrial plants effluent with the solid waste of another, and also to utilize unconventional sorbents, i.e. metallurgical solid wastes, as cost-effective substitutes in place of the classical hydrous-oxide-type sorbents such as alumina, silica and ferric oxides.

Adsorptive removal of chlorophenols from water by bituminous shale

Abstract Chlorophenols are among priority water pollutants which are taken up by aquatic fauna and flora and enriched in the food chains. Acid-activated bituminous shale has been used as an adsorbent for the removal of 2-chlorophenol (MCP) and 2,4-dichlorophenol (DCP) from water and the related process parameters were investigated. Kinetic analysis showed that the adsorption reaction could be approximated by a first-order rate equation for which pore-diffusion was the essential rate-controlling step. Adsorption was endothermic and basically of a physical character. Equilibrium modelling by linearized adsorption isotherms revealed that a Langmuir equation could well represent the observed data. The entropy change of adsorption was more positive for DCP due to its higher polarity. The saturation capacity of the sorbent for both chlorophenols were determined by dynamic column tests, this experimental capacity being lower than the theoretical monolayer capacity envisaged by the Langmuir equation. Adsorption was completely reversible as the retained DCP could be completely desorbed from the column with distilled water as eluant. The results were evaluated within the scope of utilization of cost-effective unconventional sorbents to remove chlorinated organics as possible substitutes for activated carbon.

The cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity and polyphenolic content of some herbal teas

The total antioxidant capacity of the aqueous extracts of some endemic herbs—prepared as infusions by steeping these herbs in hot water—was assayed with bis(neocuproine)copper(II) chloride, also known as the cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) reagent, which was easily accessible, rapid, stable and responsive to both hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidants. The highest antioxidant capacities of some herbal teas available in the Turkish market were observed for scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis), sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum), green tea (Camellia sinensis) and lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), in this order (1.63, 1.18, 1.07, and 0.99 mmol trolox equivalent (TR)/g, respectively). For infusions prepared from ready-to-use tea bags, the CUPRAC values were highest for Ceylon blended ordinary tea (4.41), green tea with lemon (1.61), English breakfast ordinary tea (1.26) and green tea (0.94), all of which were manufactured types of C. sinensis. Following the strongest antioxidant herbs with capacities close to or slightly exceeding 1.0 mmol TR/g, sage, thyme, coriander, coltsfoot, blackberry and immortelle (Helichrysum) exhibited capacities around 0.5 mmol TR/g. The correlation of the Folin total phenolic content of herbal teas with their CUPRAC and ABTS (2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt) total antioxidant capacities gave linear curves with correlation coefficients of 0.966 and 0.936, respectively, showing that the CUPRAC assay results better correlated with total phenolic content of herbal teas. Absorbance versus concentration data at different dilutions and upon standard additions of model antioxidant compounds (trolox and quercetin) to herbal tea infusions showed that the absorbances (at 450 nm of the CUPRAC method) due to different antioxidant compounds in herbal tea infusions were additive; that is, the tested antioxidants did not chemically interact to cause apparent deviations from Beers law.

Methods of measurement and evaluation of natural antioxidant capacity/activity (IUPAC Technical Report)*

The chemical diversity of natural antioxidants (AOXs) makes it difficult to separate, detect, and quantify individual antioxidants from a complex food/biological matrix. Moreover, the total antioxidant power is often more meaningful to evaluate health beneficial effects because of the cooperative action of individual antioxidant species. Currently, there is no single antioxidant assay for food labeling because of the lack of standard quantification methods. Antioxidant assays may be broadly classified as the electron transfer (ET)- and hydrogen atom transfer (HAT)-based assays. The results obtained are hardly comparable because of the different mechanisms, redox potentials, pH and solvent dependencies, etc. of various assays. This project will aid the identification and quantification of properties and mutual effects of antioxidants, bring a more rational basis to the classification of antioxidant assays with their constraints and challenges, and make the results more comparable and understandable. In this regard, the task group members convey their own experiences in various methods of antioxidants measurement.

Total antioxidant capacity assay of human serum using copper(II)-neocuproine as chromogenic oxidant: The CUPRAC method

Background: Tests measuring the combined antioxidant effect of the nonenzymatic defenses in biological fluids may be useful in providing an index of the organisms capability to counteract reactive species known as prooxidants, resist oxidative damage and combat oxidative stress-related diseases. The selected chromogenic redox reagent for the assay of human serum should be easily accessible, stable, selective, respond to all types of biologically important antioxidants such as ascorbic acid, α-tocopherol, β-carotene, reduced glutathione (GSH), uric acid and bilirubin, regardless of chemical type or hydrophilicity. Currently, there is no rapid method for total antioxidant assay of human serum meeting the above criteria. Methods: Our recently developed cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) spectrophotometric method for a number of polyphenols and flavonoids using the copper(II)-neocuproine reagent in ammonium acetate buffer was now applied to a complete series of plasma antioxidants for the assay of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of serum, and the resulting absorbance at 450 nm was recorded either directly (e.g. for ascorbic acid, α-tocopherol and glutathione) or after incubation at 50°C for 20 min (e.g. for uric acid, bilirubin and albumin), quantitation being made by means of a calibration curve. The lipophilic antioxidants, α-tocopherol and β-carotene, were assayed in dichloromethane (DCM). Lipophilic antioxidants of serum were extracted with n-hexane from an ethanolic solution of serum subjected to centrifugation. Hydrophilic antioxidants of serum were assayed after perchloric acid precipitation of proteins in the centrifugate. Results: The molar absorptivities, linear ranges and trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) coefficients of the serum antioxidants were established with respect to the CUPRAC spectrophotometric method, and the results (TEAC, or TEAC coefficients) were evaluated in comparison to the findings of the ABTS/TEAC reference method using persulfate as oxidant. As for hydrophilic phase, a linear correlation existed between the CUPRAC and ABTS findings (r=0.58), contrary to current literature reporting that either serum ORAC or serum ferric reducing antioxidant potency (FRAP) does not correlate at all with serum TEAC. The analytical responses of serum antioxidants were shown to be additive, enabling a TAC assay. The intra- and inter-assay CVs were 0.7 and 1.5%, respectively, for serum. Conclusions: The CUPRAC assay proved to be efficient for glutathione and thiol-type antioxidants, for which the FRAP test was nonresponsive. The findings of CUPRAC completely agreed with those of ABTS-persulfate for lipophilic phase. The additivity of absorbances of all the tested antioxidants confirmed that antioxidants in the CUPRAC test did not chemically interact among each other so as to cause an intensification or quenching of the theoretically expected absorbance. As a distinct advantage over other electron-transfer based assays (e.g. Folin, FRAP, ABTS, DPPH), CUPRAC is superior in regard to its realistic pH close to the physiological pH, favourable redox potential, accessibility and stability of reagents and applicability to lipophilic antioxidants as well as hydrophilic ones.

Comparative evaluation of Fe(III) reducing power-based antioxidant capacity assays in the presence of phenanthroline, batho-phenanthroline, tripyridyltriazine (FRAP), and ferricyanide reagents.

The chemical diversity of antioxidants in complex matrices such as plant extracts makes it difficult to separate and quantify antioxidants from these solutions. Therefore it is desirable to establish methods that can measure the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) levels directly from plant extracts. Iron(III)-based TAC assays, especially the most widely used FRAP (ferric-reducing antioxidant power), play an important role in this regard. However, many problems have been reported in the application of the FRAP assay, the most serious one being the incomplete oxidation of a number of antioxidants during the time protocol of the assay. Thus, six different ferric ion-based total antioxidant capacity (TAC) assays have been comparatively tested, modified, and improved so as to obtain more sensitive and precise results for complex mixtures, namely: 1,10-phenanthroline (o-phen) method (with incubation), batho-phenanthroline method (with incubation), original FRAP method, modified FRAP method (with incubation), original ferricyanide method, and modified ferricyanide method (with incubation). Two new assays in this regard (i.e., o-phen and batho-phen) have been established, and the existing assays (FRAP and ferricyanide) have been modified so as to let the oxidation reactions of antioxidants reach completion. The molar absorptivity for a variety of antioxidants was highest for modified FRAP, batho-phen, and original FRAP methods. The absorption maximum wavelength shifted batochromically to a higher extent for modified ferricyanide, FRAP, and batho-phen procedures, decreasing the possibility of interferences due to organics absorbing in the near-UV range of the visible spectrum where most antioxidant assays are performed. The linear concentration ranges were shown to be further extended and linear correlation coefficients improved with respect to the most widely used ferric-based assay, FRAP. Of the six assays tested and developed, only the modified ferricyanide procedure gave high intercept values and low addivitity of TAC values of constituents in complex mixtures, requiring further attention of method optimization. Thus, it was shown that the most widely used FRAP could be effectively modified, and o-phen, batho-phen, and ferricyanide methods constitute cheaper alternatives to FRAP under certain conditions, with partly improved molar absorptivity (and thus sensitivity) for antioxidants, lower intercept values (and higher precision), broader linear range (and higher flexibility), and better additivity of TAC values of antioxidant constituents in mixtures.

Spectrophotometric determination of ascorbic acid using copper(II)–neocuproine reagent in beverages and pharmaceuticals

The proposed method for ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) (AA) determination is based on the oxidation of AA to dehydroascorbic acid with a Cu(II)-2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (neocuproine (Nc)) reagent in ammonium acetate-containing medium at pH 7, where the absorbance of the formed bis(Nc)-copper(I) chelate is measured at 450nm. This chelate was formed immediately and the apparent molar absorptivity for AA was found to be 1.60 x 10(4)dm(3)mol(-1)cm(-1). Beers law was obeyed between 8.0 x 10(-6) and 8.0 x 10(-5)M concentration range. The relative standard deviation for 90mug AA was 3%. The Cu(II)-Nc reagent is a milder and therefore more selective oxidant than the conventional Fe(III)-1,10-phenanthroline (phen) reagent used for the same assay. This feature makes the proposed method superior for real samples such as fruit juices containing weak reductants such as citrate, oxalate and tartarate that otherwise produce positive errors in the Fe(III)-phen method when equilibrium is achieved. The developed method was applied to a number of commercial fruit juices, pharmaceutical preparations containing Vitamin C, and red wine. The meta-bisulfite content of wine was removed with an anion exchanger at pH 3 prior to analysis, and a difference extractive-spectrophotometric method of AA assay in wine was developed so as to suppress the interferences caused by wine anthocyanins and polyphenols. The findings of the developed method for fruit juices and pharmaceuticals were also statistically compared with those of HPLC so as to establish it as a reliable novel method.

Hydroxyl radical scavenging assay of phenolics and flavonoids with a modified cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) method using catalase for hydrogen peroxide degradation

Hydroxyl radicals (OH) generated in the human body may play an important role in tissue injury at sites of inflammation in oxidative stress-originated diseases. As a more convenient, efficient, and less costly alternative to HPLC/electrochemical detection techniques and to the nonspecific, low-yield deoxyribose (TBARS) test, we used a salicylate probe for detecting OH generated by the reaction of iron(II)-EDTA complex with H(2)O(2). The produced hydroxyl radicals attack both the salicylate probe and the hydroxyl radical scavengers that are incubated in solution for 10 min. Added radical scavengers compete with salicylate for the OH produced, and diminish chromophore formation from Cu(II)-neocuproine. At the end of the incubation period, the reaction was stopped by adding catalase. With the aid of this reaction, a kinetic approach was adopted to assess the hydroxyl radical scavenging properties of polyphenolics, flavonoids and other compounds (e.g., ascorbic acid, glucose, mannitol). A second-order rate constant for the reaction of the scavenger with OH could be deduced from the inhibition of colour formation due to the salicylate probe. In addition to phenolics and flavonoids, five kinds of herbs were evaluated for their OH scavenging activity using the developed method. The modified CUPRAC (cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity) assay proved to be efficient for ascorbic acid, gallic acid and chlorogenic acid, for which the deoxyribose assay test is basically nonresponsive. An important contribution of this developed assay is the inhibition of the Fenton reaction with catalase degradation of hydrogen peroxide so that the remaining H(2)O(2) would neither give a CUPRAC absorbance nor involve in redox cycling of phenolic antioxidants, enabling the rapid assay of polyphenolics.

CHROMIUM(III, VI) SPECIATION ANALYSIS WITH PRECONCENTRATION ON A MALEIC ACID-FUNCTIONALIZED XAD SORBENT

Chromium may exist in environmental waters as Cr(III) and Cr(IV), the latter being the toxic and carcinogenic form. Since atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry can only yield information on total Cr concentration, a polymer resin bearing O,O-donor chelating groups such as the maleic acid-functionalized XAD-(CO)CH=CH-COOH resin was synthesized to selectively retain Cr(III) at pH 4.0-5.5. The dynamic breakthrough capacity of the resin for Cr(III) at pH 5.0 was 7.52 mg g -1 , and the preconcentration factor extended to 250-300. Chromium(III) in the presence of 250-fold Cr(VI)-which was not retained could be effectively preconcentrated on the NH 4 +-form of the resin and determined by AAS or diphenylcarbazide (DPC) spectrophotometry. When Cr(VI) was reduced to Cr(III) with Na 2 SO 3 solution brought to pH 1 by the addition of 1 M H 2 SO 4 , and preconcentrated on the resin, total Cr could be determined. The developed method was validated with a blended coal sample CRM-1632. Since the adsorption behavior as a function of pH of possible interferent metal ions, e.g. Ni(II), Co(II), Cu(III), Cd(II), Zn(II), Pb(II) and Fe(III), was similar to that of Cr(III), selective elution of Cr(III) from the resin was realized using a mixture of 1 wt.% H 2 O 2 + 1 M NH 3 . The eluate containing Cr as chromate could be directly analyzed by diphenyl carbazide spectrophotometry without any adverse effect from the common interferents of this method, i.e. Fe(III), Cu(II) Hg(II), VO 3 -, MoO 4 2- and WO 4 2-. Various synthetic waste solutions typical of electroplating bath effluents containing Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn, Na, Ca, cyanide (and chemical oxidation demand (COD), achieved by glucose addition) were subjected to pretreatment procedures such as hypochlorite oxidation (of cyanide) and catalytic oxidation (of COD) with peroxodisulfate. Chromium determination gave satisfactory results. The combined column preconcentration-selective elution-diphenylcarbazide spectrophotometric determination was also successfully applied to the determination of Cr in artificial and real seawater.