Superoxo radical scavenging action by common analgesic drug paracetamol: A model kinetic study

Common household analgesic drug paracetamol (APAP) stoichiometrically reduces the harmful ROS mimicking metal bound superoxo complex (1) to [(NH3)5Co(OH2]3+, Co2+, O2 and NH4+; APAP itself is oxidized to quinone oxime and acetic acid. The reduction follows clean first-order kinetics and the rate constant (ko) increases linearly with increasing concentration of APAP and the media acidity.