Date of Award
4-4-2025
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Department
Chemistry & Biochemistry
First Advisor
Ryan T. Hayes
Abstract
Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is an essential micronutrient for human health. It acts as an enzymatic cofactor in anabolic biochemical pathways such as the synthesis of collagen, dopamine, and norepinephrine. Unfortunately, this versatility comes at the cost of a high degradation rate both in and outside of the food matrix. Previous research exploring stabilizing aqueous ascorbic acid through Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers found success in reducing the rate of degradation.
To confirm the antioxidant activity of ascorbic acid in its stabilized dendrimer complex, 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays examined via Cary 5000 UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer found that performing the DPPH assay under aqueous conditions returned consistent results if inaccurate and that the G2-DAB-PEG PAMAM dendrimer stabilized ascorbic acid showed nearly equal antioxidant activity to non-stabilized ascorbic acid.
Recommended Citation
Srikureja, Gabriella, "Antioxidant Activity of PAMAM Dendrimer Stabilized Ascorbic Acid" (2025). Honors Theses. 301.
https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/honors/301
Subject Area
Dendrimers; Vitamin C; Antioxidants
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.