From Membranes to Motor Oil: Exploring the Opportunities and Limitations of Phenoxazine and Phenothiazine Antioxidants by the Application of Fundamental Physical Organic Chemistry
Creators: name: Farmer, Luke
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2023
Subjects: Antioxidant
Radical
Phenoxazine
Phenothiazine
Lipid-Peroxidation
Physical Organic Chemistry
Autoxidation
Vitamin E

description: Autoxidation is a radical mediated chain-process that involves initiation, propagation, branching and termination reactions and is responsible for the spontaneous peroxidation of hydrocarbons, formally appearing as RH + O₂ → ROOH. Autoxidation is a consequentially damaging process in many domains, ranging from materials to automotive transportation to biology and medicine. One of the key intermediates in the propagation of autoxidation is the peroxyl radical (ROO•) which can be targeted by radical-trapping antioxidants (RTAs) that promote chain-termination, mitigating the damage of autoxidation. Chapter 1 lays out the fundamental chemistry of both autoxidation and RTAs as well as a history of the rational design of phenol and diarylamine-type RTAs. Lipid-peroxidation (i.e. autoxidation) is a key feature of ferroptosis which is a form of cell death that has been associated with many serious conditions such as ALS, Alzheimer's, Huntington's and Parkinson's disease, and lipid-soluble RTAs such as Vitamin E have been shown to acutely suppress ferroptosis. An aspect of RTA chemistry that has not been well studied/understood hitherto is their kinetic behaviour in phospholipid membranes, and we hypothesized that this would be a very relevant consideration for designing compounds that target lipid-peroxidation and ferroptosis. In Chapter 2 we systematically examine the kinetic behaviour for a series of hindered and unhindered phenolic RTAs in various mediums, particularly in phosphatidylcholine (PC) liposomes. The key chemical interaction in the PC membrane that fundamentally changed the observed kinetics of the phenolic RTAs is a very strong hydrogen-bonding interaction with the phosphate-diester headgroup that suppresses the phenols' ability to trap ROO•, an effect that was previously overlooked. In Chapter 3 we further expanded/validated the model by studying over 40 phenoxazine (PNX) and phenothiazine-based (PTZ) RTAs, which showed the quantitative/predictive capabilities of the H-bonding effect. By introducing a water-soluble co-antioxidant, Vitamin C (ascorbate), we were able to study many features of the PNX/PTZ radical intermediates with respect to their reactivity and dynamics. The PNX/PTZ were far more persistent than the Vitamin E analogue 2,2,5,7,8-pentamethyl-6-chromanol (PMC), meaning that they catalytically trapped lipid-peroxyls far more efficiently (i.e., higher turnover number). Additionally, there is strong evidence suggesting that the PNX/ascorbate synergism is a diffusion-controlled process. The study was further expanded to biological models. Ferroptosis in vitro was inhibited by every single one of these compounds, and there was a general positive correlation between RTA kinetics (kᵢₙₕ) and ferroptosis rescue potency (EC₅₀) as well as a positive correlation between lipophilicity (logP) and ferroptosis rescue potency. A lead PNX compound, 3-trifluoromethyl-8-tert-butylphenoxazine, was identified in this study on the basis of superior potency and metabolic stability. When used to treat mice with GPx4 deletion in kidneys, an in vivo model of ferroptosis, it was found to extend the life of the mice in a statistically significant fashion compared to the vehicle control. In Chapter 4 there is further elaboration on the dynamics of PNX/ascorbate synergy and a demonstration of the early works toward developing a drug-like-PNX ferroptosis inhibitor, based on the conclusions from the work in Chapter 3. In Chapters 5 and 6 the research is focused on the development novel RTAs for the application of inhibiting autoxidation in lubricants in high temperature environments. Heavy machinery and most transportation technologies require lubrication to aid safe and efficient movement, and these lubricants/greases are highly susceptible to autoxidation. Large quantities of RTA additives are expended to extend the service life of these materials and there is a constant appetite for innovation to find new and improved RTAs for improved economics and competitiveness. In Chapter 5 the behaviour of PNX and PTZ in a simulated high temperature lubricant autoxidations are analyzed, revealing that PNX is highly susceptible to direct O₂-mediated oxidation due to its rapid electron-transfer kinetics, while PTZ is far more resilient despite both compounds having nearly identical oxidation potentials. In Chapter 6, in this same context, previously unreported substituent effects are analyzed which significantly enhance the period of inhibition (tᵢₙₕ) for PTZ compounds. Particular alkyl substituents on the PTZ can increase the number of chains-trapped at high temperatures by fortuitous substituent oxidation that promotes termination, substantially improving their atom-economy. These findings prompt a broader critique of putative catalytic RTA mechanisms which have been taken for granted for nearly three decades.