Antioxidant activity of some coumarins / Antioxidačná activita niektorých kumarínov

Nineteen derivatives of coumarin were tested on the scavenging of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, hydroxyl and superoxide anion radicals. It was found that antioxidant activity exhibits only such coumarins that contain hydroxyl groups. The derivatives without hydroxyl group showed very low antioxidant effectiveness or they were ineffective. On the other hand, the greatest antioxidant effectiveness was exhibited by coumarin derivatives that contained hydroxyl groups in 6 or 8 position, whereas the effectiveness of derivatives with one hydroxyl group in 4, 5 or 7 position was very low. Based on scavenging of the above-mentioned radicals, it was found that the most effective scavengers were 7,8-dihydroxy-4-methylcoumarin (i.e. compound that contains two hydroxyl groups in 7 and 8 positions), (7,8-dihydroxy-2-oxo-2H-chromen-4-yl)acetic acid (this compound contains in addition to two hydroxyl groups in 7 and 8 positions also one hydroxyl group in the acidic residue), esculetin (6,7-dihydroxycoumarin) and 6,7-dihydroxy-4-methylcoumarin.