Selenocarbamates are effective superoxide anion scavengers in vitro

We investigated the superoxide anion- scavenging effects of six selenocarbamates and four thiocarbamates, using a highly sensitive quantitative chemiluminescence method. At 333 nM, six selenocarbamates and four thiocarbamates scavenged in the range of 2.9-68.7% Of O-2 center dot-. Se-methyl N-phenylselenocarbamate and Se-methyl N-(4-methylphenyl)selenocarbamate exhibited the strongest superoxide anion-scavenging activity among the Se-selenocarbamates. In contrast, the corresponding S-thiocarbamates had moderate inhibitory effect. The 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of Se-methyl-N-phenylselenocarbamate and Se-methyl-N-(4-methylphenyi)selenocarbamate were determined to be 140 nM and 162 nM, respectively. Thus, these compounds acted in vitro as effective and potentially useful O-2 center dot- scavengers. (c) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.