Autoxidation, a radical chain reaction, is largely responsible for the degradation of most man-made and biological materials. These include chemical products such as lubricants, plastics and rubber; as well as biological molecules and membranes within our bodies. The development of means to hinder this process has been a major focus of the petroleum, chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry over the past century. The two most common strategies to emerge from these efforts have been the use of compounds that either prevent the initiation of autoxidation or trap the propagating radicals, so-called radical-trapping antioxidants (RTAs).
Herein, we describe our efforts towards the design and development of extremely potent heterocyclic diarylamine RTAs, and their activity in a variety of applications ranging from isotropic organic solution to mammalian cells. We have elucidated the important structural motifs and mechanistic considerations necessary for the development of next-generation arylamine RTAs. Some of the substituted heterocyclic diarylamines analogs we disclose are among the best inhibitors of high temperature autoxidations described to date. Alongside, we developed novel analytical tools to facilitate the studies and acquisition of results for characterizing RTA activity in organic solutions and lipid bilayers. These fluorescent probes are highly relevant and allow for the determination of hydroperoxide and acid concentrations rapidly, as well as screen (or counter-screen) RTAs in liposomal membranes. Our methodologies address numerous drawbacks from frequently used ‘plug-and-play’ assays and we anticipate they will fill a current unmet need in both industrial and academic laboratories worldwide.
Moreover, the recent characterization of ferroptosis – a novel regulated necrotic-like cell-death pathway associated with the accumulation of lipid hydroperoxides – has paved a way forward for studying oxidation induced damage in a biological context. Utilizing our expertise in lipid peroxidation and inhibition, we elucidated the prominent role of autoxidation in the execution of ferroptotic cell death. Alongside, our analytical tools and RTAs have also enabled the identification and characterization of novel ferroptosis inhibitors. Furthermore, this has prompted the development of a correlation to predict anti-ferroptosis activity of small-molecules using simple spectrophotometric assays.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/39838 |
| Date | 14 November 2019 |
| Creators | Shah, Ronak |
| Contributors | Pratt, Derek |
| Publisher | Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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