Synthesis, physical-chemical and biological properties of amphiphilic amino acid conjugates of nitroxides

Abstract

Due to the dual property of synthetic nitroxide compounds to either act as probe or antioxidant, efforts toward their selective targeting using specific ligands have been extensively explored. Herein, we report the synthesis of novel amphiphilic nitroxides in which the nitroxyl group is grafted onto an amphiphilic carrier comprising a lactobionamide polar group, a non-polar alkyl chain and an amino acid as scaffold. Piperidine and pyrrolidine nitroxides such as 4-amino-TEMPO (4-AT) and 3-carboxyproxyl (3-CP), respectively, were grafted onto the amphiphilic carriers. To further investigate the effect of the nature of the chain on the physical-chemical and biological properties of nitroxides, hydrogenated or perfluorinated alkyl chains were used. The self-aggregation properties in aqueous media of these surfactant-like nitroxides were confirmed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) as well as electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, and were correlated with their respective lipophilicity. The effect of the carrier groups on the electrochemical property of nitroxides was investigated using cyclic voltammetry, and the rates of reduction using ascorbate as reducing agent were measured. Finally, their cytoprotective property against toxic concentrations of hydrogen peroxide using bovine aortic endothelial cells was also investigated.