Introduction: Phenols are the most abundant compounds in nature. They are strong antioxidants. Too high level of free radicals leads to cell and tissue damage, which may cause asthma, Alzheimer disease, cancers, etc. Taking phenolics with the diet as supplements or natural medicines is important for homeostasis of the organism.
Materials and methods: The ten most popular water soluble phenols were chosen for the experiment to investigate their antioxidant properties using ABTS radical scavenging capacity assay and ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) assay.
Results and discussion: Antioxidant properties of selected phenols in the ABTS test expressed as IC50 ranged from 4.332 μM to 852.713 μM (for gallic acid and 4- hydroxyphenylacetic acid respectively). Antioxidant properties in the FRAP test are expressed as μmol Fe2+/ml. All examined phenols reduced ferric ions at concentration 1.00 x 10-3 mg/ml. Both methods are very useful for determination of antioxidant capacity of water soluble phenols.