Electrochemical Behavior of Unusual Dimeric Flavonoids Isolated from Fridericia platyphylla

Abstract

Brazil has the greatest plant diversity on the planet, distributed in different types of biomes. These plants are important sources of biologically active natural products, which are derived from various drugs marketed worldwide. This paper presents an electrochemical study of three unusual dimeric flavonoids, pharmacologically active, isolated and identified for the first time by our research group, in a Brazilian plant (Fridericia platyphylla). The results showed that oxidation processes are favored at higher pH, and mass transport was controlled by diffusion. Brachydins derivatives, Bra-A was oxidized at the lowest potential value (0.48 V vs. Ag/AgCl, KCl(sat)) and Bra-B and Bra-C, presented the highest oxidation potentials (ca. 0.71 and ca. 0.57 V vs. Ag/AgCl, KCl(sat), respectively). This study shows that electrochemistry is one more tool that would help us focus on future bio-pharmacological investigations of these unusual compounds.