Antioxidant activity and mechanism of dihydrochalcone C-glycosides: Effects of C-glycosylation and hydroxyl groups.

Dihydrochalcones (DHCs), an important subgroup of flavonoids, have recently received much attention due to their diverse biological activities. In contrast to their O-glycosides, understanding of the antioxidant property and mechanism of DHC C-glycosides remains limited. Herein, the free radical scavenging activity and mechanism of two representative C-glycosyl DHCs, aspalathin (ASP) and nothofagin (NOT) as well as their aglycones, 3-hydroxyphloretin (HPHL) and phloretin (PHL) were evaluated using the density functional theory (DFT) calculations.