Kinetic study of the α-tocopherol-regeneration reaction of ubiquinol-10 in methanol and acetonitrile solutions: notable effect of the alkali and alkaline earth metal salts on the reaction rates.

A kinetic study of regeneration reaction of α-tocopherol (α-TocH) by ubiquinol-10 has been performed in the presence of four kinds of alkali and alkaline earth metal salts (LiClO(4), NaClO(4), NaI, and Mg(ClO(4))(2)) in methanol and acetonitrile solutions, using double-mixing stopped-flow spectrophotometry. The second-order rate constants (k(r)'s) for the reaction of α-tocopheroxyl (α-Toc•) radical with ubiquinol-10 increased and decreased notably with increasing concentrations of metal salts in methanol and acetonitrile, respectively. The k(r) values increased in the order of no metal salt < NaClO(4) ~ NaI < LiClO(4) < Mg(ClO(4))(2) at the same concentration of metal salts in methanol.