Phytochemical profiles and antioxidant activities of leaf extracts of euphorbia species

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Research Paper 01/04/2018
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Phytochemical profiles and antioxidant activities of leaf extracts of euphorbia species

Marie Cris D. Gapuz, Ronnie L. Besagas
J. Biodiv. & Environ. Sci. 12(4), 59-65, April 2018.
Copyright Statement: Copyright 2018; The Author(s).
License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Abstract

The study was conducted to identify the phytochemical constituents and to quantify the total phenolics, total flavonoids and free radical scavenging activity of leaf extracts from three plants belonging to Euphorbiaceae family namely Euphorbia milii Des moul, Euphorbia trigona Mill and Euphorbia antiquorum L. Preliminary phytochemical screening was also carried out. The total phenolics of the extracts was determined spectrophotometric ally according to the Folin-Ciocalteu procedure, while the totalflavonoids was determined by aluminum chloride colorimetric assay. DPPH assay was used for determining the free radical scavenging activity of the plant samples. Qualitative screening of the phytochemical constituents showed that alkaloids, carbohydrates, flavonoids, saponin and tannins were present in the metabolic leaf extracts. The total flavonoids analysis showed that E. milii had the highest (20.3 mg quercetin per gram-dried material) followed by E. trigona (19.5 mg quercetin per gram-dried material) and E. antiquorum (19.1 mg quercetin per gram-dried material). The total phenolics of the three samples showed a little variation with 3.61, 1.63, and 1.69 mg GAE/g dried material for E. milii, E. trigona and E. antiquorum, respectively. The highest DPPH radical scavenging activity was detected in the methanolic leaf extracts of E. milii (74.37%), followed by E. trigona (60.10%) and E. antiquorum (59.42%). The three plants appeared to be good sources of antioxidants and promising source of medicines against various types of chronic and degenerative diseases caused by oxidative stress.

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