Abstract

There is an up-surge of interest in antioxidants because of their potential use in mitigating a wide array of oxidative stress mediated diseases. In the course of our literature search for diverse functional groups, with utility in the design of potential drugs for preventing oxidative stress related cell injury, we have collected a small literature library of core structures or moieties possessing antioxidant activities. These functional groups can be re-configured into robust antioxidants drug molecules, in their own right, or incorporated into drug structures where the antioxidant capability is required. The lack of single papers presenting a collection of diverse small molecule antioxidant moieties as potential design leads prompted us to write this short review of twenty five such functionalities.

Keywords: Catalase, cytoprotective, neuroprotective, oxidative stress, phenolic, radicals, scavengers, superoxide dismutase.