Antioxidant Capacity of Selected Plant Extracts and Their Essential Oils

Antioxidants

Charalampos Proestos¹  Konstantina Lytoudi¹  Olga Konstantina Mavromelanidou¹  Panagiotis Zoumpoulakis² 

[1] Laboratory of Food Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 15771, Greece; E-Mails:;Institute of Biology, Medicinal Chemistry & Biotechnology, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 48, Vas. Constantinou Ave., Athens 11635, Greece; E-Mail:

关键词: plant extracts;    essential oils;    HPLC-UV/vis;    antioxidant capacity;    DPPH;    ABTS;    Rancimat test;   

DOI  :  10.3390/antiox2010011

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The main objective of this study was the screening of some selected aromatic plants very popular in Greece, with respect to their total phenolic content, antioxidant capacity, reducing activity, and oxidative stability. All plants were extracted with the conventional method, reflux with methanol. The essential oils of the plants were also analyzed for their antioxidant properties. The total phenolic content was determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method using gallic acid as the standard, while the phenolic substances were identified and quantified by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) coupled with a multi-wavelength ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) detector. The antioxidant capacity of the plant extracts was measured by their ability to scavenge free radicals such as (a) DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and, (b) ABTS (2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiaziline-6-sulfonate). The Folin-Ciocalteu method proved the existence of antioxidants in the aromatic plant extracts. Taking into account the results of the DPPH and ABTS methods, the free radical scavenging capacity was confirmed. Eventually, all plants exhibited low but noticeable protection levels against lipid oxidation, as determined by the Rancimat test.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.