ARABIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY, vol.3, no.1, pp.43-53, 2010 (SCI-Expanded)
Tannic acid, a naturally occurring plant polyphenol, is composed of a central glucose molecule derivatized at its hydroxyl groups with one or more galloyl residues. In the present paper, we examines the in vitro radical scavenging and antioxidant capacity of tannic acid by using different in vitro analytical methodologies such as 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl free radical (DPPH center dot) scavenging, 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activity, total antioxidant activity determination by ferric thiocyanate, total reducing ability determination using by Fe3+-Fe2+ transformation method, superoxide anion radical scavenging by riboflavin-methionine-illuminate system, hydrogen peroxide scavenging and ferrous ions (Fe2+) chelating activities. Also, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), alpha-tocopherol and trolox, a water-soluble analogue of tocopherol, were used as the reference antioxidant radical scavenger compounds.