| Summary: | Hydroxytyrosol is one of the most powerful known antioxidants. It is a naturally occurring polyphenol, most commonly produced in Olive tree, (Olea europaea). The remarkable antioxidant and pharmacological properties of hydroxytyrosol has made it an outstanding compound in the polyphenol family and of great interest to many researchers. Hydroxytyrosol has the ability to scavenge free radicals produced during cellular oxidative stress and helps to protect the integrity of cells in living systems. Despite its numerous biological and pharmacological uses, it is found in very low concentration in olive oil, this limits its biomedical applications. A novel method for synthesizing pure hydroxytyrosol from commercially less expensive precursor catechol was successfully developed in our lab. However, it is believed that the cellular uptake of hydroxytyrosol is slow because of its high hydrophilicity. Therefore, we plan in this ongoing research to synthesize less hydrophilic derivatives of hydroxytyrosol by introducing some hydrophobic groups (such as alkyl, acyl, …) to its molecular skeleton.
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