Scavenging capacity of coffee brews against oxygen and nitrogen reactive species and the correlation with bioactive compounds by multivariate analysis

•It is the first time that the complete antioxidant capacity of coffee brews is evaluated.•It is the first time that the capacity of coffee brews to scavenge NO is reported.•The ROO, HO, NO and ONOO− scavenging capacities were related to chlorogenic acids.•The capacity to scavenge H2O2 and HOCl was related to browned compounds.•The coffee brews showed to be potent HOCl scavengers.

In the present work the scavenging capacity of coffee brews against ROS (ROO, H2O2, HO and HOCl) and RNS (NO and ONOO−) was evaluated and correlated with their bioactive compounds by multivariate analysis. It is the first time that the complete antioxidant capacity profile of coffee brews against different ROS and RNS is evaluated and that the capacity of coffee brews to scavenge NO is reported. The coffee brews were able to scavenge all the reactive species tested and possibly NO2 and CO3−. The capacity of the coffee brews to scavenge ROO (2523 to 3673 μmol TE/g), HO (IC50 = 2.24 to 4.38 μg/mL), NO (IC50 = 3.07 to 5.67 μg/mL) and ONOO− (IC50 = 1.29 to 2.88 μg/mL) was positively correlated to the contents of chlorogenic acids, chlorogenic acid lactones and p-coumaric acid, while the scavenging capacity against H2O2 (IC50 = 336 to 531 μg/mL) was positively correlated to the content of browned compounds, mainly melanoidins. The coffee brews showed to be potent HOCl scavengers (IC50 = 5.12 to 11.20 μg/mL), which was correlated to the contents of caffeic acid, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and browned compounds. These results reinforce the hypothesis that the scavenging capacity against ROS/RNS is one of the mechanisms that can explain the association between the consumption of coffee brews and the decreased risk of chronic-degenerative diseases.