Free radical oxidation of (E)-retinoic acid by the Fenton reagent: competing epoxidation and oxidative breakdown pathways and novel products of 5,6-epoxyretinoic acid transformation.

The nature of the products formed by reaction of all-trans retinoic acid (1) and its major metabolite, 5,6-epoxyretinoic acid (2), with the Fenton reagent was investigated. Oxidation of 1 in a vigorously stirred biphasic medium (0.1 M phosphate buffer, pH 7.4/ethyl acetate 5:1 v/v) with Fe2+/EDTA complex (2 mol equiv) and a 10-fold excess of H2O2 proceeded smoothly to give a very complex mixture of products. Repeated TLC fractionation of the reaction mixture after methylation allowed isolation of the main products which were identified as 2 methyl ester, (7E)-7,8-epoxyretinoic acid methyl ester (6), all-(E)-2,6-dimethyl-8-(2,6,6-trimethyl-2-cyclohexen-1-ylidene)-2,4,6-octatrienal (11), the novel (9E)-5,6,9,10-diepoxyretinoic acid methyl ester (7), and (9Z)-5,6,9,10-diepoxyretinoic acid methyl ester (8) (1:1 mixture of syn/anti isomers each), 5,6-epoxy-beta-ionone (9), 5,6-epoxy-beta-ionylideneacetaldehyde (10), and trace amounts of P-ionone (12), beta-ionylideneacetaldehyde (13), and 4-oxoretinoic acid (3) methyl ester. When the oxidation was carried out with the substrate and the Fenton reagent at concentrations as low as 10 mu M, the main detectable products were 2 methyl ester, 11, and 7/8. Under similar conditions, the epoxide 2 gave mainly products 7-10. A less efficient conversion of 1 and 2 but similar product patterns were observed with other oxidizing systems such as peroxidase/ H2O2 and 13-hydroperoxyoctadecadienoic acid in the presence of Fe(H). Besides providing the first detailed insight into the products formed by reaction of a retinoid with the Fenton reagent, the results of this study disclose a novel nonenzymatic route from 1 to the epoxide 2 and offer an improved chemical basis to inquire into the mechanism of the antiinflammatory, antimutagenic, and cancer chemopreventive action of these retinoids.