Antioxidant property of quercetin–Cr(III) complex: The role of Cr(III) ion

Flavonoid–metal complex is reported to exhibit a higher antioxidant activity than parent flavonoid. In this paper, experimental and theoretical methods are applied to study the antioxidant properties of quercetin and quercetin–Cr(III) complex, to find out the antioxidant activity variation and the role of Cr(III) ion on the antioxidant activity of the complex. Bond dissociation energy (BDE) and ionization potential (IP) of quercetin and the complex are calculated at the B3LYP/6-311++G(2d,2p)//B3LYP/LANL2DZ level. The experimental results show that the complex has a higher DPPH radical scavenging activity than quercetin. The calculated results show that the complex displays lower BDE and IP than quercetin. The IP of the complex declines obviously, indicating that the Cr (III) ion has more impact on the electron donating ability than on the hydrogen atom transferring ability of the complex.