Plumbagin: a natural product for smart materials?

Abstract

The exploitation of the natural product plumbagin (5-hydroxy-2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone) to produce polymer films capable of serving as controllable source of reactive oxygen species is assessed. The efficacy of the film to catalyse the reduction of oxygen to yield reactive oxygen species has been evaluated through using ascorbate and glutathione redox probes.