DPPH radical scavenging activity of tricin and its conjugates isolated from "njavara" rice bran: A density functional theory study

Structural, electronic, and energetic characteristics of tricin, tricin-4′-O-(erythro-β-guaiacylglyceryl)ether (TEGE), and tricin-4′-O-(threo-β-guaiacylglyceryl)ether (TTGE), isolated from "Njavara" rice bran have been studied using DFT to explain their experimentally determined radical scavenging activity (EC ₅₀ values) in comparison with known standards such as quercetin, myricetin, and catechin. Among the three mechanisms proposed for explaining the antioxidant activity, proton coupled-electron transfer (PC-ET), sequential proton loss electron transfer (SPLET), and electron transfer-proton transfer (ET-PT), our results support the second one. The O-H bond dissociation enthalpy (BDE) and the spin density on the oxygen with the radical character are excellent descriptors of radical scavenging activity. BDE (in kcal/mol) increased in the order myricetin (74.6) < quercetin (78.1) < catechin (78.3) < tricin (81.5) < TTGE (90.6) < TEGE (91.1), while the EC ₅₀ increased exponentially with increase in BDE, 20.51, 42.98, 45.07, 90.39, 208.01, and 352.04 μg/mL for myricetin, quercetin, catechin, tricin, TTGE, and TEGE, respectively.