Interrelation between the chemical structure and antioxidant properties of N-substituted amides of salicylic acid

Abstract

The kinetics of the initiated oxidation of a model lipid (methyl oleate has been investigated in the presence of a group of new “hybrid” structures, namely, N-substituted amides of salicylic acid whose structure contains an amide residue conjugated with, or separated by a bridging fragment (three methylene groups) from, an N-phenolic substituent. The compounds also differ in the degree of screening of the OH groups. The process was initiated by thermal decomposition of azobisisobutyronitrile at 60°C (initiation rate of wi = 4.2 × 10−8 mol L−1 s−1) or by UV irradiation (γ = 313−365 nm, wi = 0.6 × 10−8 mol L−1 s−1). The compounds examined exhibit antiradical activity owing to the presence of the phenolic hydroxyl groups. N-substituted salicylamides efficiently inhibit the overall methyl oleate oxidation process and are comparable in activity with dibunolum and α-tocopherol or are superior to them. The structures in which the residues of salicylamide and sterically hindered phenol are separated by the bridging fragment are particularly efficient. The advantages of the salicylamides absorbing at 300–365 nm manifest themselves in UV-initiated oxidation. The peroxidase activity of the N-substituted salicyl acid derivatives is determined by the structure of the amide moiety. The compounds examined here are new, promising, effective antioxidants, whose particular structural fragments act via different mechanisms in oxidation.