Iron complexes of dietary flavonoids: Combined spectroscopic and mechanistic study of their free radical scavenging activity

► Experimental and theoretical research of the iron(III) chelation of quercetin and baicalein. ► Stoichiometric composition of the complexes and stability constant values. ► Combined spectroscopic (UV/visible, Raman, MS) analysis. ► Structural modifications of the ligand molecules predicted by B3LYP/6-31G (d, p) level of theory.