Methylxanthines
Graphene Oxide: A smart (starting) material for natural methylxanthines adsorption and detection
Natural methylxanthines, caffeine, theophylline and theobromine, are widespread biologically active alkaloids in human nutrition, found mainly in beverages (coffee, tea, cocoa, energy drinks, etc.). Their detection is thus of extreme importance, and many studies are devoted to this topic. During the last decade, graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) gained popularity as constituents of sensors (chemical, electrochemical and biosensors) for methylxanthines.
A new insight into the oxidative mechanism of caffeine and related methylxanthines in aprotic medium: May caffeine be really considered as an antioxidant?
Background: Antioxidant properties have been recently suggested for caffeine that seems showing protective
effects against damages caused by oxidative stress. In particular, a HO% scavenging activity has been ascribed to
caffeine. Even if the oxidation of caffeine has been widely studied, the antioxidant mechanism is still far to be
understood.
Methods: The electrochemical behavior of caffeine, theobromine and theophylline was studied in aprotic
medium by cyclic voltammetry and electrolysis in UV–vis cell; a computational analysis of the molecular