Emphasizes the efficacy of synthetically occurring compounds in the management of free radical-mediated illnesses. The text details the design, development and delivery of therapeutic antioxidants used in the treatment of pathophysiological disorders, from amylotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis (MS) to Alzheimer's disease.

General concepts: approach and rationale for the design of synthetic derivatives of natural antioxidants as therapeutic agents. Synthetic derivatives of natural antioxidants: design and biological evaluation of tissue-directed alpha-tocopherol analogs; physical and chemical mechanisms of the antioxidant action of tirilazad mesylate; anionic tocopherol esters as antioxidants and cytoprotectants. Phenolic antioxidants: phenolic antioxidants - physiological and toxicological aspects; antioxidant properties of probucol; antioxidant properties of the catechol derivative nitecapone. Twenty-one aminosteroids or lazaroids: neuroprotective efficacy and mechanisms of the lazaroids. Sulfhydryl and selenium-containing compounds: antioxidant properties of ebselen; the development of diaryl chalcogenides and alpha-(phenylselenenyl) ketones with antioxidant and glutathione peroxidase-mimetic properties; modulation of glutathione. Nitrones and nitroxides: nitrones radical traps as protectors of oxidative damage in the central nervous system; antioxidant properties of nitroxides and nitroxide SOD mimics. SOD mimics: mimics of superoxide dismutase. Metal chelators: antioxidant properties of synthetic iron chelators.