Redox reactions of organoselenium compounds: Implication in their biological activity

Abstract

Antioxidant activity of organoselenium compounds belonging to different classes i.e. functionalized aliphatic, aromatic and cyclic selenoethers, are compared on the basis of their ability to scavenge reactive oxygen species like hydroxyl and peroxyl radicals and to exhibit glutathione peroxidase (GPx) like catalytic activity. The comparative analysis has revealed that the antioxidant activity of the organoselenium compounds show direct correlation with the energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and neighboring group participation that stabilizes the reaction intermediate. Finally, structural features responsible for improving the rate of reaction of organoselenium compounds with free radical/molecular oxidants have been discussed on the basis of the compounds screened at our institute.

Keywords:

• Organoselenium compounds
• free radical scavenging
• frontier energy level
• ring strain
• non-bonding interactions

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Department of Atomic Energy for supporting the research. They also thank all their past and present collaborators and co-workers for their contributions in the work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).