The requirement for ferric in the initiation of lipid peroxidation by chelated ferrous iron.

When certain ferrous chelates are added to lipid, peroxidation of the lipid occurs following a short lag. This suggests that a product of ferrous autoxidation is required to initiate lipid peroxidation. This autoxidation product is apparently ferric iron, rather than the oxygen radicals which also result from ferrous autoxidation. Studies with oxy-radical scavengers and catalase suggest that O2-., H2O2, or the .OH are not involved in the initiation reactions, therefore, we propose that a ferrous-dioxygen-ferric chelate complex may be the initiating species.