Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Articles

Vol. 3 No. 1: June, 2015

The involvement of free radicals in the mechanism of -Carotene Degradation

Submitted
March 2, 2016
Published
2015-06-11

Abstract

ï¢-Carotene, a pro-vitamin A carotenoid, was reacted with oxygen in benzene
as solvent, in the dark. The products of oxidation were characterised by HPLC with a
UV photodiode detector and LC-MS, EI mode. The products identified were oxygencontaining
compounds of the type epoxides, aldehydes and ketones. ESR study of
retinyl- and ionyl-derivatives revealed that the secondary sites C7 and C9 were the most
reactive towards radical generation. Both the results of product analysis and the ESR
study enabled us to propose that the products of ï¢-carotene autoxidation were obtained
by a free radical mechanism involving initial formation of a biradical during the transto-
cis isomerisation at the 15,15' bond and attack by oxygen.
Keywords: Carotene, Carotenoids, Apo-carotenoids, ESR, Degradation, Autoxidation,
Free radicals.

Most read articles by the same author(s)