Francisco J. Plou

By M.A. Martin-Luengo, M. Yates, M. Ramos, F. Plou, J. L. Salgado, A. Civantos, J.L. Lacomba, G. Reilly, C. Vervaet, E. Sáez Rojo, A.M. Martínez Serrano, M. Diaz, L. Vega Argomaniz, L. Medina Trujillo, S. Nogales and R. Lozano Pirrongell

Part of the book: Resource Management for Sustainable Agriculture

By Celia María Curieses Andrés, José Manuel Pérez de la Lastra, Celia Andrés Juan, Francisco J. Plou and Eduardo Pérez-Lebeña

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are molecules produced in living organisms, in the environment, and in various chemical reactions. The main species include, among others, singlet oxygen (1O2), the superoxide anion radical (•O2−), the hydroxyl radical (HO•), and the hydroperoxyl radical (HOO•). In general, the reactivity of 1O2 is lower than that of HO• but even higher than that of •O2−. Singlet oxygen is the lowest energy excited state of molecular oxygen, but it is also a highly reactive species, which can initiate oxidation reactions of biomolecules such as amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids, either by a direct reaction or by the induction of ROS. Singlet oxygen is a highly reactive electrophilic species that reacts with electron-rich molecules and is related to several types of pathologies. To inhibit the oxidation of biomolecules with this species, some substances act as antioxidants by performing a quenching effect. In this chapter, aspects such as its physicochemical properties, methods of generation and detection, as well as the reactivity of this molecule are detailed.

Part of the book: Reactive Oxygen Species