Comparative Study of the Reduction Process of Different Ring Structured Nitroxyl Spin Probes: An Electron Spin Resonance Study

Electron spin resonance spectroscopy (ESR) studies on the reduction process of nitroxyl spin probes were carried out for 1mM concentration of 14 N-labeled pyrrolidine nitroxyl spin probes, 3-carbamoyl-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-pyrrolidine-1-oxyl (carbamoyl-PROXYL) and 3-carboxy-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-pyrrolidine -1-oxyl (carboxy-PROXYL), 14 N-labeled piperidine nitroxyl spin probes, 4-methoxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-piperidine-1-oxyl (methoxy-TEMPO) and 4-acetamido-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-piperidine-1-oxyl (acetamido-TEMPO) in 1 mM concentration of ascorbic acid as a function of time. The half-life time and decay rate were estimated. The piperidine nitroxyl spin probes show a short half-life time compared with that of pyrrolidine nitroxyl spin probes. This result indicates that the higher stability of pyrrolidine nitroxyl spin probes. The ESR was also recorded for 1mM concentration of pyrrolidine nitroxyl spin probes and piperidine nitroxyl spin probes in pure water using X-band ESR spectrometer. The ESR parameters such as line width, hyperfine coupling constant, g-factor, signal intensity ratio and rotational correlation time were determined. These results indicate that the pyrrolidine nitroxyl spin probes have narrow line width and fast tumbling compared with the piperidine nitroxyl spin probes. Therefore, this study reveals that the pyrrolidine nitroxyl spin probes can act as good redox sensitive spin probes for free radical imaging.