Oximetry methods for evaluating the activity of nanoantioxidants (minireview)

Nanomaterials are probably the most promising and unexplored frontier in the ongoing research for better antioxidants. Testing the efficacy of these materials however requires significant efforts to improve current protocols. In this minireview, we describe the advantages of the methods based on the detection of oxygen consumption during the autoxidation of an organic substrate. The differential oxygen uptake apparatus is a powerful and cost-effective way to measure antioxidant activity from inhibited autoxidation studies, especially in organic solvents. Besides, electrochemical or optical oxygen probes are specifically designed to quantify dissolved O2 in water, where autoxidations are performed by using micellized linoleate or liposomes as oxidizable substrates. Selected examples of the use of these techniques to rationalize the effect of nanoantioxidants are reported.