Chemiluminescence investigations of antioxidative activities of some antibiotics against superoxide anion radical

A chemiluminescent technique was applied to determine antioxidative activities of adriamycin, farmorubicin, mitomycin C and bleomycin against superoxide anion radical (O-2(center dot)) in aprotic medium. The antioxidant capacity was expressed as the decrease in light emission from the O-2(center dot) solution by and antibiotic. A KO2 solution in dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) and 18-crown-6 ether were used for the generation of O-2(center dot). The results showed that the examined compounds decreased the chemiluminescence (CL) sum from the O-2(center dot)-generating system in a dose-dependent manner. Among the antibiotics examined, adriamycin, farmorubicin and bleomycin exhibited antioxidant activity almost comparable to that of 1,2-dihydroxy benzene-3,5-disulphonic acid (tiron), an efficient of the O-2(center dot) inhibitor. Mitomycin C was two-times less effective as tiron in decreasing the initial CL intensity. The proposed assay with usage of ultraweak CL technique and the KO2-DMSO-crown ether system was useful for the evaluation of antioxidant activity in aprotic solvents. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.