The objective in this work is to determine the antioxidant capacity and effectiveness of icariin (2-(4'-methoxylphenyl)-3-rhamnosido-5-hydroxyl-7-glucosido-8-(3-methyl-2-butylenyl)-4-chromanone), the major component in herba epimedii being used widely in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of artherosclerosis and neuropathy, in which 2,2 - azobis(2- amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH)- induced peroxidation of linoleic acid (LH) in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) acts as the experimental system. By containing an intramolecular hydrogen bond, icariin protects LH against AAPH-induced peroxidation of LH only in SDS, an anionic micelle. The number of trapping peroxyl radicals (LOO(center dot)), n, by icariin is just 0.0167 whereas alpha-tocopherol (TOH) and L-ascorbyl-6-laurate (VC-12) are 2.14 and 1.25, respectively, with reference to the n of 6-hydroxyl-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid (Trolox), 2.00. This is also related to how the intramolecular hydrogen bond enhances the bond dissociation enthalpy (BDE) of O-H in icariin. However, calculation of the inhibition rate constant, kinh, a kinetic parameter to describe the reaction between the antioxidant and LOO(center dot), results in a kinh of icariin at about one magnitude larger than those of Trolox, TOH, and VC-12. This fact reveals that, by the view of kinetics, icariin is an antioxidant with much higher effectiveness. In addition, the antioxidant capacities of icariin used together with other antioxidants have been determined and the results indicate that the n of icariin decreases markedly while the n values of Trolox and TOH increase, even if the n of icariin is a negative value in the presence of VC-12. Furthermore, an analysis of kinh in this case reveals that the kinh icariin increases nearly one magnitude with the decrease of kinh Trolox and no remarkable change occurs for kinh TOH. The negative value of kinh icariin in the presence of VC-12 can be regarded as the icariin functions as a prooxidant that can be rectified by VC-12 effectively. These findings implicate that the evaluation of antioxidant activity should not only focus on an n value, a thermodynamic possibility, but kinh and the charge property of the micelle should be also taken into account. To some extent, the latter factors are more important than the thermodynamic possibility.
