Vitamin-E: Antioxidant Vitamin

Devendra Kumar; Sakshi Gupta

Devendra Kumar Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry B.S.N.V. P.G College, Lucknow- 226005, U.P., India.
Sakshi Gupta Trainee Research Associate, Jubilant Chemsys Limited, Noida-201301, U.P., India.

Keywords: Vitamin E, tocopherol, antioxidant, reactive oxygen species

Abstract

Vitamin E is a fat soluble vitamin. Vitamin E was first discovered by Evans and Bishop in 1922, isolated in 1935 and was first synthesized in 1938. It was initially denoted as an "anti -sterility factor". Vitamin E is a group of eight fat soluble compounds that includes four tocopherol and four tocotrienols. Alpha- tocopherol is the most biologically active compound.1 Tocopherol is very important components of biological membranes where they may act as antioxidants.2 Vitamin E having antioxidant property, protect cells from the damaging effect of ROS (reactive oxygen species). This paper reviews the current research on the protective role of tocopherol (Vitamin E) as an antioxidants.