Plumbagin: A natural product for smart materials?

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. © The Royal Society of Chemistry and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 2010.