Determination of antioxidant activity of spices and their active principles by differential pulse voltammetry.

The anodic oxidation of mercury in the presence of hydrogen peroxide in differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) was used to determine the antioxidant (AO) character of radical scavengers. Hydroperoxide radical is formed at the potentials of the oxidation peak on mercury electrodes, such radical reacting with the antioxidants in different extension. The parameter C10 (antioxidant concentration at which the peak area decreases by 10%) is used to measure the scavenging activity of the individual antioxidants. To establish the scavenging activity of antioxidant mixtures as a whole, the parameter, µ10 as the reverse of V10, V10 being the volume necessary to decrease the peak area in DPV by 10%, was selected. Higher µ10 values correspond to higher scavenging activity. The studies have been extended to aqueous extracts of some species. The results may be useful in explaining the effect of spices in vitro and in vivo studies.

Comparison of the simple cyclic voltammetry (CV) and DPPH assays for the determination of antioxidant capacity of active principles.

Antioxidant activity of a number of small (low molecular weight) natural compounds found in spices, condiments or drugs (gallic acid, sesamol, eugenol, thymol, carvacrol, vanillin, salicylaldehyde, limonene, geraniol, 4-hexylresorcinol, etc.) has been evaluated using electrochemical and DPPH• radical scavenging measurements. Structural analysis of the tested compound suggest a remarkable activity for phenol derivatives and the importance of the -R groups located on the phenolic ring in the molecule's ability to act as free radical scavenging as well as their influence in the electrochemical behavior. The voltammetric method can be used for the determination of the antioxidant capability in the same manner as the DPPH• radical scavenging because of the correlation found between oxidation potentials and anti-radical power (ARP = 1/EC50). Such electrochemical determination is fast and cheap and allows making measurements under a variety of experimental conditions. The accuracy of the electrochemical measurements is the same for all the compounds, irrespective of their scavenging activity, the opposite of what occurs in the DPPH• test.