Clicking gallic acid into chitosan prolongs its antioxidant activity and produces intracellular Ca responses in rat brain cells.

Gallic acid is a vegetable-derived and highly bioactive phenolic acid, but its antioxidant capacity is sensitive to environmental conditions. Chitosan is a biopolymer capable of exerting significant protection to various molecules, including phenolic compounds. A chitosan derivative that extends the antioxidant activity of gallic acid was synthesized by click chemistry and characterized by FT-IR, H NMR, and antioxidant capacity assays.