ANTI-OXIDANT

An antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals, which start chain reactions that damage cells. Antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing free radical intermediates, and inhibit other oxidation reactions by being oxidized themselves. As a result, antioxidants are often reducing agents such as thiols, ascorbic acid or polyphenols. In addition to these uses of natural antioxidants in medicine, these compounds have many industrial uses, such as preservatives in food and cosmetics and preventing the degradation of rubber and gasoline. The term antioxidant originally was used to refer specifically to a chemical that prevented the consumption of oxygen. In the late 19th and early 20th century, extensive study was devoted to the uses of antioxidants in important industrial processes, such as the prevention of metal corrosion, the vulcanization of rubber, and the polymerization of fuels in the fouling of internal combustion engines. Early research on the role of antioxidants in biology focused on their use in preventing the oxidation of unsaturated fats, which is the cause of rancidity. Antioxidant activity could be measured simply by placing the fat in a closed container with oxygen and measuring the rate of oxygen consumption. However, it was the identification of vitamins A, C, and E as antioxidants that revolutionized the field and led to the realization of the importance of antioxidants in the biochemistry of living organisms. The possible mechanisms of action of antioxidants were first explored when it was recognized that a substance with anti-oxidative activity is likely to be one that is itself readily oxidized. Research into how vitamin E prevents the process of lipid peroxidation led to the identification of antioxidants as reducing agents that prevent oxidative reactions, often by scavenging reactive oxygen species before they can damage cells.

Free Radicals
The majority of molecules or complex ions discussed in general chemistry courses are demonstrated to have pairs of electrons. However, there are a few stable molecules which contain an odd number of electrons. These molecules, called "free radicals", contain at least one unpaired electron, a clear violation of the octet rule. Free radicals play many important roles a wide range of applied chemistry fields, including biology, medicine, and astrochemistry. Three well-known examples of such molecules are nitrogen (II) oxide, nitrogen(IV) oxide, and chlorine dioxide. The most plausible Lewis structures for these molecules are

Free radicals are usually more reactive than the average molecule in which all electrons are paired. In particular they tend to combine with other molecules so that their unpaired electron finds a partner of

opposite spin. Since most molecules have all electrons paired, such reactions usually produce a new free radical. This is one reason why automobile emissions which cause even small concentrations of NO and NO2 to be present in the air can be a serious pollution problem. When one of these free radicals reacts with other automobile emissions, the problem does not go away. Instead a different free radical is produced which is just as reactive as the one which was consumed. To make matters worse, when sunlight interacts with NO2, it producestwo free radicals for each one destroyed:

In this way a bad problem is made very much worse. A fourth very interesting example of a free radical is oxygen gas. The Lewis structure for Oxygen usually hides the fact that it is a "diradical", containing two unpaired electrons. This is often cited as a serious flaw in Lewis bond theory, and was a major impetus for development of molecular orbital theory. We know oxygen is a diradical because of its paramagnetic character, which is easily demonstrated by attraction of oxygen to an external magnet.