Synthesis and Antioxidative Activities of N,N'-Diferuloyl-putrescine (DFP) and Its Derivatives

N,N'-Diferuloyl-putrescine (DFP) present in plants such as Sophora japonica has been reported to have skin depigmentative and antioxidative activities. In this study, DFP, usually presents in nature a very little amount and its derivative (DFP-D) were synthesized in a large quantity for the use as functional cosmetical materials. The antioxidative activities of synthesized DFP and DFP-D were evaluated by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, chemiluminescence assay, and cell pro- tective effect induced by 1 O2, stress. DFP and DFP-D showed DPPH radical scavenging activities (FSC50) at 61.25 ± 2.25 µM and 12.92 ± 0.72 µM, respectively. ROS (reactive oxygen species) scavenging activities (OSC50) in the Fe 3+ -EDTA/H2O2 system of DFP and DFP-D were 2 times (1.84 ± 0.12 µM) and 13 times (0.174 ± 0.01 µM), respectively higher than that of L-ascorbic acid. 1 O2, one of ROS playing a key role in the skin photo-aging, induces cellular membrane damages. DFP-D (50 µM) showed good cell protective effects (τ50 = 80.2 min) about 2 times more than that of (+)-α-tocopherol (τ50 = 43.6 min). These results suggest that the great antioxidative activities of DFP and DFP-D could be applied to cosmetic in- dustries as functional cosmetic materials.