Effective detection of antioxidants using functional schemes of enzyme inhibition and competing (bio)reactions

Numerous analytical methods were developed based on purely chemical, electrochemical and other physicochemical (spectral, chromatographic) interactions of the antioxidants (AOx) molecules with corresponding specific thermodynamic and kinetic background of experimental, mostly in vitro, conditions. Highly useful results are widely available which are however, operationally based and, therefore, not simply comparable. Reflecting the role of AOx in living organisms characterized by the biomolecular interactions, analytical procedures are also developed based on the antioxidant – pro-oxidant interactions in the presence of a biomolecule. In this case, enzymes fulfil the role of probe expressing an inhibition of their catalytic activity or nucleic acids, lipids, and others are the targets competing with AOx at a pro-oxidant attack. This review presents recent approaches and results on the analytical utilization of inhibiting and competing interactions with AOx. Novel trends exploiting nanomaterials and nanozymes are included. The studies of plant-derived extracts and products are particularly treated being of high pharmaceutical and medical interests. General features with future challenges regarding methods standardization development of portable devices and miniaturization technologies are highlighted to stimulate further progress in the effective AOx detection and characterization.