Radical scavenging reactions of alpha-tocopherol. II. The reaction with some alkyl radicals.

alpha-Tocopherol was reacted with some alkyl radicals (ethyl, n-propyl, iso-propyl, n-butyl, and sec-butyl radical) to study its radical scavenging reactivity. The two types of products (alkyl ethers of alpha-tocopherol and cyclohexadienones) were obtained on treatment of each radial. These structures were determined by the spectral analysis. It was observed that alpha-tocopherol is very sensitive to the alkyl racidals and that the yields of the cyclohexadienones are decreased and that of the alkyl ethers are not much varied with an increase of carbon numbers of the alkyl radicals.