ANTIOXYDANT ACTIVITY OF DITHIOLETHIONES: EVALUATUION OF REDUCING POWER

Abstract

Dithiolethiones compounds found in cruciferous vegetables increase the rate of detoxification chemical carcin ogens. These plants contain substantial concentrations of dithiolethiones, indoles, and isothiocynates, each of which has been proposed to account for chemoprotection [1]. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reducing ability, the Fe+3/Fe+2 transformation in the presence of dithiolethiones [cation methylthio-3 tolyl-4 dithiole-1,2 ylium contre-ion I- MTTD(I-) and cation methylthio-3 phenyl-4 dithiole-1,2 ylium contre- ion MeSO4- MTPD(MeSO4-)]. The reducing capacity of a compound may serve as a significant indicator of its potential. Therefore, the Fe+2 can be monitored by measuring the

formation of Perl's Prussian blue at 700 nm. Ascorbic acid was used as standard and positive control for this analysis. Our results showed that the reduction activity of two compounds is generally proportional to the concentration, in this work; the both derivatives of dithiolethiones were characterized by a high reduction power. The MTPD(MeSO4-) show a potential reduction power than that of MTTD(I-). At a concentration of 0.08 g/l, the

reduction power of MTTD(I-) expressed an absorbance is close to values observed for ascorbic acid 0.585 and 0.645 respectively.