Investigation on the Double CutOff Phenomenon Observed in Protocatechuic Acid and Its Alkyl Esters under Various CAT-Based Assays.

A strange cutoff phenomenon of a series of protocatechuic acid alkyl esters had been noticed using the conjugated autoxidizable triene (CAT) assay. Two parabolic shapes of antioxidant activities of protocatechuic acid alkyl esters described as ″the double cutoff effect″ have been speculated as a result of an oxidative driving force generated in the aqueous phase. The aim of this research was to investigate the double cutoff effect using various types of oxidation driving forces in different CAT-based assays. To further explain the phenomenon, the natural oxidation of conjugated autoxidizable triene (NatCAT) assay has been developed for the first time by relying solely on only the lipid autoxidation of tung oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions. In conclusion, NatCAT exhibited different antioxidant and oxidation patterns from both CAT and apolar radical-initiated CAT assays, and only one cutoff point was obtained. This discovery would lead to a greater understanding of the complexity of antioxidant/lipid oxidation dynamics in O/W emulsion systems.