Enhanced antioxidant activity in Imidazolium-based protic organic salts: An insight into structure activity relationship via experimental and modelling approaches

Sulfonyl hydroxide functionalized imidazolium based protic ionic liquids (PILs) have been evaluated as a new form of antioxidants. The antioxidant activity was performed using free radical quenching using UV-visible spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. The studies confirmed that the investigated ILs with variable anions exhibited substantial radical scavenging activity. In UV-Visible study, Glutamine based -IL ([1MeimPS][Gln]) showed least IC 50 value of 95 mu M indicating maximum radical quenching activity as an oxidant, while proline based -IL ([1MeimPS]Pro]) exhibited highest IC 50 value of 675 mu M, demonstrating least anti -oxidant activity. Moreover, cyclic voltammetry results complemented well the UV-visible findings with least IC 50 value of 90 mu M for [1MeimPS][Gln], showing maximum antioxidant activity, and highest IC 50 value of 593 mu M for [1MeimPS] Pro], exhibiting the least antioxidant activity. The presence of two primary amines moieties in glutaminate anion may be responsible for enhanced antioxidant activity by providing more active sites for radical quenching. Contrarily, lack of primary amine functionality in prolinate anion may contribute to reduced antioxidant activity of respective IL. The Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations predicted that the trend of radical scavenging potential was comparable with the experimentally obtained IC 50 values. Molecular Electrostatic Potential (MESP) Maps illustrated that [1MeimPS][Pro] has the maximum red zones indicating a poor potential against electron scavenging capacity among all the studied ILs, while blue region in [1MeimPS][Gln], corresponding to low electron density, suggested strong attraction for the incoming electrons. Also, the high electronic distribution of HOMO orbital, appreciable stability, and significant chemical potential to attack on radical species provided by [1MeimPS][Gln] with the maximum radical scavenging potential. Furthermore, the associated LUMO energy for [1MeimPS][Pro] (-1.297 eV) is quite higher than that of [1MeimPS][Gln] (-1.422 eV) which reduced the ability of [1MeimPS][Pro] to attack free radicals of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and thus have higher associated IC 50 values. This is also supported by the results of chemical hardness (eta) and chemical potential (mu) descriptors values indicating [1MeimPS][Pro] is least stable and reactive than [1MeimPS][Gln]. These findings further explain the least IC 50 values observed experimentally and consequent enhanced antioxidant potential of [1MeimPS][Gln].