Exploratory laser flash photolysis study of free radical reactions and magnetic field effects in melatonin chemistry.

Department of Chemistry, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Melatonin is an excellent free radical scavenger, reacting with tert-butoxyl and cumyloxyl radicals with rate constants of 3.4 x 10(7) and 6.7 x 10(7) M-1s-1, respectively. Reaction with benzophenone triplet occurs with a near-diffusion-controlled rate constant of 7.6 x 10(9) M-1s-1 in acetonitrile and probably involves charge transfer. When the radical pair formed by reaction of benzophenone triplet and melatonin is sequestered in a micelle, it is subject to extensive magnetic field effects that can be readily interpreted by the radical pair model.

PMID: 8789250 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]