Abstract
The kinetics of several processes involving the potential antioxidant role of urate in physiological systems have been investigated by pulse radiolysis. While the monoanionic urate radical, ·UH-, can be produced directly by oxidation with ·Br-2 or ·OH, it can also be generated by oxidation with the neutral tryptophan radical, ·Trp, with a rate constant of 2 × 107 M-1s-1. This radical, ·UH-, reacts with ·O-2 with a rate constant of 8 × 108 M-1s-1. Also, ·UH- is reduced by flavonoids, quercetin and rutin in CTAB micelles at rate constants of 6 × 106 M-1s-1 and 1 × 106 M-1s-1, respectively. These results can be of value by providing reference data useful in further investigation of the antioxidant character of urate in more complex biological systems.