The goal of this thesis was to improve the therapeutic activity of synthetic nitroxide and nitrone antioxidant agents. Free radicals are very reactive and toxic species that are associated to a large number of pathologies. In the first part of this work, nitroxides were grafted to lysine- and aspartic acid- based amphiphilic carriers. The second part, consisted inthe functionalization of the α-phenyl-N-tert-butyl-nitrone (PBN) by hydrophilic and lipophilic groups. For both series of compounds the self-aggregation properties in water as well as their hydrophobic character and antioxidant properties were determined. Finally, biological studies demonstrated the protective properties of these molecules against oxidative stress in vitro and in vivo models.
