Kinetic characterization of the enzymatic and chemical oxidation of the catechins in green tea.

The oxidation of green tea catechins by polyphenol oxidase/O2 and peroxidase/H2O2 gives rise to o-quinones and semiquinones, respectively, which inestability, until now, have hindered the kinetic characterization of enzymatic oxidation of the catechins. To overcome this problem, ascorbic acid (AH2) was used as a coupled reagent, either measuring the disappearance of AH2 or using a chronometric method in which the time necessary for a fixed quantity of AH2 to be consumed was measured. In this way, it was possible to determine the kinetic constants characterizing the action of polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase toward these substrates. From the results obtained, (-) epicatechin was seen to be the best substrate for both enzymes with the OH group of the C ring in the cis position with respect to the B ring. The next best was (+) catechin with the OH group of the C ring in the trans position with respect to the B ring. Epigallocatechin, which should be in first place because of the presence of three vecinal hydroxyls in its structure (B ring), is not because of the steric hindrance resulting from the hydroxyl in the cis position in the C ring. The epicatechin gallate and epigallocatechin gallate are very poor substrates due to the presence of sterified gallic acid in the OH group of the C ring. In addition, the production of H2O2 in the auto-oxidation of the catechins by O2 was seen to be very low for (-) epicatechin and (+) catechin. However, its production from the o-quinones generated by oxidation with periodate was greater, underlining the importance of the evolution of the o-quinones in this process. When the [substrate] 0/[IO4 (-)] 0 ratio = 1 or >>1, H2O2 formation increases in cases of (-) epicatechin and (+) catechin and practically is not affected in cases involving epicatechin gallate, epigallocatechin, or epigallocatechin gallate. Moreover, the antioxidant power is greater for the gallates of green tea, probably because of the greater number of hydroxyl groups in its structure capable of sequestering and neutralizing free radicals. Therefore, we kinetically characterized the action of polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase on green tea catechins. Furthermore, the formation of H2O2 during the auto-oxidation of these compounds and during the evolution of their o-quinones is studied.