Abstract

TOTAL PHENOLIC AND FLAVONOID CONTENTS AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF LANTANA CAMARA AND CUCURBITA PEPO (SQUASH) EXTRACTS AS WELL AS GC-MS ANALYSIS OF LANTANA CAMARA ESSENTIAL OILS

Mortada M. El-Sayed*, Maher M. Hashash, Afaf A. Abdel-Hady, Heba Abdel-Hady,
Ezzat E. Abdel-Lateef  and Eman A.Morsi

Abstract

This study aimed to determine total phenolic and flavonoid contents aswell as evaluate antioxidant activity of the defatted methanolic extractsof flowers, leaves, stems and certain fractions (dichloromethane, ethylacetate, n-butanol and water residue) derived from the defattedmethanolic extract of Lantana camara and Cucurbita pepo (Squash)leaves besides, the essential oils of L. camara leaves and flowers byusing (DPPH, ABTS and TAC assay). The chemical composition of L.camara essential oils was identified by GC-MS analysis. The resultsexhibited that the defatted methanolic extracts of L. camara (flowers,leaves and stems) have higher phenolic and flavonoid contents as wellas antioxidant activity than C. Pepo (Squash) parts. Also, the ethylacetate fraction of L. camara has the highest phenolic and flavonoid contents as well as thehighest antioxidant activity (DPPH; SC50 = 11.82±0.21 μg/ mL, TAC; 290.96±6.71mg eq.ascorbic acid /g extract, ABTS; 94.03±0.25mm Trolox® eq. / 100g extract). There is apositive correlation between the total phenolic and flavonoid contents and the antioxidantactivity of the tested extracts or fractions. GC-MS analysis of essential oil of L. camaraleaves and flowers revealed the presence of 47 compounds in leaves and 40 compounds inflower. The major compounds in the leaf oil were 7(11) -selinen-4α-ol (14.50%) and cedrenol (6.50%) whereas, the major compounds in flower oil were cedrenol (10.71%) and farnesyl acetone (7.15%).

Keywords: antioxidant activity, Cucurbita pepo (Squash), essential oil, flavonoids, Lantana camara, phenolic.