Structural Determination of Oxidation Products of Flavonoids in Alcoholic Aqueous Solution with Reactive Oxygen Species

Recently, much attention has been paid to the physiological functions of flavonoids associated with their antioxidant properties. However, there was a lack of information on the molecular mechanism at which flavonoids play the antioxidative role. We have already studied on the oxidation of quercetin with hydrogen peroxide and sodium hypochlorite in alcoholic aqueous solution and determined the oxidation products. Through the structural analysis of the oxidation products, it was clarified that the hydroxyl group at C-3 in the C ring plays the important role in the antioxidative action of quercetin. Successively, rutin and (+)-catechin were oxidized with sodium hypochlorite and their mono- and di-chlorinated derivatives were obtained. These facts indicate that these flavonoids can directly scavenge hypochlorous acid and the active site in this scavenging reaction is not the hydroxyl group at C-3.