Synthesis of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-n-acetylcysteine conjugate with click chemistry and ıts antioxidant response and biocompatibility

Abstract

In this study, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-N-acetylcysteine (POSS-NAC) conjugate as a potential antioxidant molecule was synthesized from N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and aminofunctional POSS structure by click chemistry. The chemical structures and thermal properties of the synthesised POSS-NAC conjugate was characterized by spectroscopic and thermal analysis techniques. The antioxidant capacity of the POSS-NAC conjugate was also determined by the 2,2’-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activity and reducing power methods. According to the reducing power method, POSS-NAC structure has lower reducing activity than standard ascorbic acid and trolox (p<0.001). It was found from the ABTS radical scavenging activity results that the synthesized POSS-NAC conjugate had a significantly higher radical scavenging effect than the standards (p <0.001). Biocompatibility properties of the POSS-NAC structure were detected in vitro cell culture system with 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) test on L-929 mouse fibroblast cells. The synthesized POSS-NAC conjugate exhibits high antioxidant activity and good biocompatibility