Radiation 2006. In association with the Polymer Division, Royal Australian Chemical Institute. Incorporating the 21st AINSE Radiation Chemistry Conference and the 18th Radiation Biology Conference, conference handbook

Full text: SOD (superoxide dismutase) mimetics have potential as therapeutic agents against a wide range of diseases which are thought to be exacerbated by the uncontrolled production of superoxide. Mn(II) macrocycle complexes are known SOD mimetics with high activity. Our preliminary investigations agree with previous reports that SOD activity is strongly dependent on the stereochemistry of the macrocycle backbone. Using radiation chemistry we are able to study, for the first time, both the initial reaction of superoxide with the complexes to form an intermediate and its subsequent reaction with further superoxide as a catalytic process. The most active complex studied so far has kCAT = 7.3 ± 0.4 x 108 M-1 s-1, which makes it an efficient catalyst even at the micromolar concentration range. The nature of the transient intermediate is crucial in understanding the catalytic process and our preliminary studies give some insight on this species