Antioxidant Activity of Phenolic Compounds from Dendropanax dentiger (Harms) Merr.

Abstract

Dendropanax dentiger (Harms) Merr. is a species of Dendropanax from Araliaceae family. It is traditionally used as a folk medicinal plant in China for a variety of diseases. Dried ethanol extract of D. dentiger was made and dissolved in distilled water and then fractioned by re-extracting with petroleum ether, ethyl acetate and n-butanol. Subsequently, 1,1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging activity of these fractions and its isolated phenolic compounds was determined. It is observed that the ethyl acetate fraction exhibited the highest 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging activity with an IC₅₀ value of 53.743 ± 0.012 mg/L. Among the isolated phenolic compounds, quercetin, luteolin, caffeic acid showed significent 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging activity with IC₅₀ values of 0.051 ± 0.001, 0.038 ± 0.007 and 0.057 ± 0.020 mmol/L, respectively.