Antiradical and Reducing Activity of Hydroxychalcone Derivatives

The antiradical, reducing, and iron-chelating activities of hydroxychalcone derivatives 1, 2, and 3 have been studied in comparison with the synthetic lipophilic analog of vitamin E—2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol (ionol). Compound 3 demonstrated the highest efficacy in tests with DPPH• and ABTS•+ radicals, surpassing ionol by 1.3–2 times, which is presumably due to the presence of both chalcone and sterically hindered phenol moieties. In the reaction with the natural nitroxyl radical, the chalcones exhibited weaker antiradical activity than ionol. The reducing activity of the compounds in the CUPRAC and FRAP tests did not exceed the values of the reference compound, Trolox. Chalcone 3 with a sterically hindered phenolic moiety showed the highest Fe2+-chelating ability. The results confirm the potential of modified chalcones as multifunctional antioxidants for applications in the food and feed industries.