Photo- and thermal-oxidation studies on methyl and phenyl linoleate: anti-oxidant behaviour and rates of reaction.

Photo-peroxidation of methyl and phenyl linoleate in methanol solutions at 25 degrees C, in the presence of methylene blue or 5,10,15,20-tetra(4-pyridyl)-porphyrin (TPP) as sensitisers of singlet oxygen, was found to proceed at more than 30 times the rate of the same polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) ester species undergoing thermal-peroxidation in the bulk phase at 50 degrees C. The addition of anti-oxidants such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) quench the thermal-oxidation effectively but appear to only partially inhibit the photosensitized peroxidation reactions. The kinetics of the overall peroxidation reactions were followed by ultraviolet spectroscopy, measurements of hydroperoxide concentration and by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The photo-peroxidation reaction proceeds more rapidly in chloroform solution as the lifetime of singlet oxygen is shown to be over ten times longer in chloroform than methanol. The initial fast reaction kinetics of the photo-peroxidation reactions were evaluated using a pulsed laser technique to show that singlet oxygen reacts competitively with both the anti-oxidants and the polyunsaturated fatty acid ester. Second order kinetic rate constants (in the range 10(5)-10(7) dm(3) mol(-1) s(-1)) were evaluated for the reactivity of singlet oxygen with a range of anti-oxidants and a singlet oxygen quencher, and the results used to explain the effect of anti-oxidants at different concentrations on the rate of the linoleate photo-peroxidation reaction.