Design, synthesis, and physicochemical and biological characterization of a new iron chelator of the family of hydroxychromenes

Increasing evidence suggests that iron plays an important role in tissue damage both during chronic iron overload diseases (i.e., hemochromatosis) and when, in the absence of actual tissue iron overload, iron is delocalized from specific carriers or intracellular sites (inflammation, neurodegenerative diseases, postischaemic reperfusion, xenobiotic intoxications, etc.), In the present work we appropriately modified an iron chelator of the hydroxychromene family in, order to obtain a tridentate chelator that would inactivate the iron redox cycle after its complexation, with a view to using this molecule in human therapy and/or in disease prevention. We synthesized such a chelator for the first time and show, by different physticochemical analysis, its tridentate nature and, importantly, its capacity to chelate iron with enough strength to inhibit both iron-dependent H2O2 generation and lipid peroxidation in in vitro biological systems.