ABSTRACT
The rates of oxidation of adenosine and chlorogenic acid by tert-butoxyl radicals (t-BuO-) were studied by measuring the absorbance of adenosine at 260 nm and chlorogenic acid at 328 nm spectrophotometrically. t-BuO- radicals were generated by the photolysis of tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BuOOH) in presence of tert-butyl alcohol to scavenge OH. radicals. The rates and the quantum yields() of oxidation of chlorogenic acid by t-BuO-radicals were determined in the absence and presence of varying concentrations of adenosine. An increase in the concentration of adenosine was found to decrease the rate of oxidation of chlorogenic acid, suggesting that adenosine and chlorogenic acid competed for t-BuO. radicals. From competition kinetics, the rate constant of chlorogenic acid reaction with t-BuO- was calculated to be 3.20 109 dm3 mol-1 s-1. The quantum yields (expt) were calculated from the experimentally determined rates of oxidation of chlorogenic acid under different experimental conditions. Assuming that chlorogenic acid acts as a scavenger of t-BuO- radicals only, the quantum yields (cal) were theoretically calculated. expt and cal values suggested that chlorogenic acid not only protected adenosine from t-BuO- radicals, but also repaired adenosine radicals, formed by the reaction of adenosine with t-BuO- radicals.