Antioxidants are used to inhibit the deterioration of a molecule and are used
at a low concentration to slow or avoid the degradation of a molecule. They have the
ability to chelate transition metals and work through a variety of synthetic processes
like hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) and single electron transfer (SET). Understanding
the biology of antioxidants, their possible applications, and their synthesis using
different biotechnological methods are important aspects of antioxidant mechanisms.
Antioxidant molecules can react in one of two ways: through multiple mechanisms or
through a single mechanism. Understanding the antioxidant reaction process is possible
due to the molecular structure of the antioxidant material. This chapter presents an
overview of various antioxidants, their reaction mechanism against free radicals as well
as the most utilized techniques to assess their different activities.
Keywords: Antioxidant activity, Antioxidant screening assays, Antioxidant, Free
radicals, Hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), Reactive oxygen species, Single electron
transfer (SET).
