Patent ID: 7888335

Claim:
A chemically stable antioxidant compound, comprising: a lipophilic cationic moiety linked by a linking moiety to an antioxidant moiety; and an anionic complement for said cationic moiety, wherein the cationic moiety is capable of mitochondrially targeting the antioxidant moiety, wherein the anionic complement is a pharmaceutically acceptable anion that is not a halogen ion or a nitrate anion and is selected from the group consisting of an alkyl sulfonate, an aryl sulfonate, tetrafluoroborate, trifluoromethanesulfonate, hexafluoroantimonate, hexafluoroarsenate, hexafluorophosphate, tetraphenylborate, and tetra(perfluorophenyl)borate, and does not exhibit reactivity against the antioxidant moiety, the cationic moiety or the linking moiety, and wherein the antioxidant compound exhibits less than 10% decomposition after 60 days at 25° C., 50% relative humidity, the antioxidant compound having the general formula I: or its quinol form, wherein R 1 , R 2 , and R 3 are the same or different and are selected from C 1 to C 5 alkyl, substituted C 1 to C 5 alkyl and H, wherein R 4 and R 5 are independently selected from the group consisting of H, hydroxyl, carboxyl, amide, unsubstituted or substituted alkyl, unsubstituted or substituted alkenyl and unsubstituted or substituted alkynyl, and wherein n is an integer from 2 to 20, and wherein Z is the anionic complement.