Novel antioxidant agents deriving from molecular combination of Vitamin C and NO-donor moieties.

In this paper, we describe a new class of products in which NO-donor moieties are linked to either the 3-OH (4a-f) or 2-OH group (7a-c) of ascorbic acid (ASA). Log Ps and pK(a)s of these products were experimentally evaluated. All the compounds were tested for their antioxidant activity on lipidic peroxidation induced by Fe(3+)-ADP/NADPH in lipids of microsomal membranes of rat hepatocytes. Only 3-O series displays antioxidant activity and it seems to be principally dependent on the lipophilicity. Both series trigger in vitro NO-dependent vasodilator properties.