Antioxidant and antibacterial activities of dimeric phenol compounds

Abstract

We studied the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of monomeric and dimeric phenol compounds. Dimeric compounds had higher antioxidant activities than monomeric compounds. Electron spin resonance spin-trapping experiments showed that phenol compounds with an allyl substituent on their aromatic rings directly scavenged superoxide, and that only eugenol trapped hydroxyl radicals. We developed a generation system of the hydroxyl radical without using any metals by adding L-DOPA and DMPO to PBS or MiliQ water in vitro. We found that eugenol trapped hydroxyl radicals directly and is metabolized to a dimer. On the other hand, dipropofol, a dimer of propofol, has strong antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria. However, it lacks solubility in water and this property is assumed to limit its efficacy. We tried to improve the solubility and found a new solubilization method of dipropofol in water with the addition of a monosaccharide or ascorbic acid. © 2008 The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan.