Quenching mechanisms and kinetics of Trolox and ascorbic acid on the riboflavin-photosensitized oxidation of tryptophan and tyrosine

The effects of 0, 0.3, 0.6, and 0.9 mM Trolox and ascorbic acid on the singlet oxygen oxidation of tryptophan and tyrosine containing 25 ppm of riboflavin were determined by measuring tryptophan and tyrosine concentration by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. The samples were stored in the a 1000 lx light storage box for 4 h at 30 degrees C. As the concentration of Trolox and ascorbic acid increased, the degradation of tryptophan and tyrosine decreased significantly at p < 0.05. Trolox reduced tryptophan and tyrosine degradation by quenching both singlet oxygen and excited triplet riboflavin, whereas ascorbic acid quenched singlet oxygen only. The total singlet oxygen quenchings of Trolox in the presence of tryptophan and tyrosine were 1.55 x 10(7) and 1.32 x 10(7) M(-1) s(-1), respectively. The total singlet oxygen quenchings of ascorbic acid in the presence of tryptophan and tyrosine were 1.16 x 10(7) and 1.10 x 10(7) M(-1) s(-1), respectively. Trolox was more effective than ascorbic acid in preventing the degradation of tryptophan and tyrosine.