Antioxidants are an alternative to prevent or retard biofuel degradation. This study assessed the oxidative stability of biodiesel B100, made from soybeans, in the presence of three synthetic antioxidants, butylhydroxyanisole (BHA), terbutylhydroquinone (TBHQ) and butylhydroxytoluene (BHT), pure or in mixture, from the simplex-centroid design. Results revealed that when the three oxidants were employed separately, as well as the ternary mixture, they presented induction period over 6 h, at 110 degrees C, being in accordance with specifications of the norm EN1412. Besides that, depending on the temperature, the BHA, TBHQ and BHT oxidants act in different ways, highlighting that BHA and TBHQ presented higher efficiency in the prevention of the oxidative process of the biofuel B100. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.