Antioxidant Activity, Total Phenolics, Flavonoid and Alkaloid Contents of Capparis kerrii Craib Stem Extracts

Abstract

This research aims to study the antioxidant activity, total phenolic, flavonoid and alkaloid contents of hexane, dichloromethane, acetone and methanol extracts from dried stem of Cappariskerrii Craib. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by DPPH assays. The results showed that acetone extract (IC₅₀ = 2.12±0.01 mg/ml) exhibited higher antioxidant potential than BHT standard (IC₅₀ = 14.05±0.05 mg/ml) about 6.6 times. Total phenolic, flavonoid and alkaloid contents were investigated using Folin-Ciocalteu, colorimetric aluminium chloride assays and Bromocresol green method, respectively. The results showed that there was no significant difference on the total phenolic contents (p> 0.05) in all extracts. The highest total flavonoid content found in hexane extract (p<0.05) was 140.0 ± 0.01 mg QE/g crude extract and the highest total alkaloid in extracts of acetone was 1,684.95 ± 0.02 mg AE/g crude extract. In addition, the positive correlation coefficients were observed between the antioxidant potential and total phenolic content (r = 0.991) and alkaloid content (r = 0.686), respectively. However, the negative correlation coefficients were found (r = 0.966) between the antioxidant activity and total flavonoid content.