The reactions of oxidizing radicals (*OH, Br-2*, and SO4*(-)) with -OH-, -CH3-, or -NH2-substituted indole chalcones and hydroxy benzenoid chalcones were studied by radiation and quantum chemical methods. The *OH radical was found to react by addition at diffusion-controlled rates (k = 1.1-1.7 x 10(10)) dm(3) mol(-1) s(-1)), but Br-2*(-) radical reacted by 2 orders of magnitude lower. Quantum chemical calculations at the B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) level of theory have shown that the (C2-OH)*, (C11-OH)* and (C10-OH)*. adducts of the indole chalcones and the (C7-OH)* and (C8-OH)* adducts of the hydroxy benzenoid chalcones are more stable with Delta H = 39 to -28 kcal mol(-1) and Delta G = -32 to -19 kcal mol(-1). This suggests that *OH addition to the alpha,beta-unsaturated bond is a major reaction channel in both types of chalcones and is barrierless. The stability and lack of dehydration of the *OH adducts arise from two factors: strong frontier orbital interaction due to the low energy gap between interacting orbitals and the negligible Coulombic repulsion due to small absolute values of Mulliken charges. The transient absorption spectrum measured in the *OH radical reaction with all the indole chalcone derivatives exhibited a maximum at 390 nm, which is in excellent agreement with the computed value (394 nm). The formation of three phenolic products under steady-state radiolysis is in line with the three stable *OH adducts predicted by theory. Independent of the substituent, identical spectra (lambda(max) = 330-360 and similar to 580 nm) were obtained on one-electron oxidation of the three indole chalcones. MO calculations predict the deprotonation from the -NH group is more efficient than from the substituent due to the larger electron density on the NI atom forming the chalcone indolyl radical. Its reduction potential was determined to be 0.56 V from the ABTS*-/AbTS(2-) couple. In benzenoid chalcones, the *OH adduct spectrum is characterized by a peak at 270 nm and a broad maximum centered in the range 430-450 nm with an intense bleaching at 340 nm. The spectrum formed by electron transfer in these derivatives with A,, = 280 and 380 nm (epsilon(280) = 5000 dm(-1) mol(-1) cm(-1) and epsilon(380) = 700 dm(3) mol(-1) cm(-1)) was assigned to its phenoxyl radical. Our pulse radiolysis experiments in combination with quantum chemical calculations demonstrate that chalcones are efficient scavengers of damaging oxyl radicals.