Phytochemical Screening, Total Phenolic and Antioxidant Activity of Crude and Fractionated Extracts of Cynomorium coccineum Growing in Saudi Arabia

Aim: This study was carried out to determine the Total phenolic and antioxidant activity of crude and fractionated extracts of Cynomorium coccineum growing wild in Saudi Arabia.

Methodology: Phytochemical analysis of the different extracts obtained from C. coccineum was carried out by Siddiqui et al procedure and the Total phenolic content of the extracts were assessed by the Folin-Ciocalteau’s method while the antioxidant activities were determined by two different assays, namely scavenging activity on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) cation radicals methods.

Results: Phytochemical screening of C. coccineum revealed the presence of alkaloids, anthraquinones, glycosides, flavonoids, saponins, tannins and terpenoids in all different extracts. In the present study, the butanol extract exhibited the highest total phenolic content (201.36±7.44 mg of GAEs/g of extract) and showed the strongest antioxidant activity in both, the DPPH radicals and ABTS methods. The antioxidant activity of the butanol extract for DPPH scavenging assay was 95.20%±3.48% (IC50 0.0056 mg/mL) while for ABTS radical scavenging assay was 99.07±0.37 (IC50 0.006 mg/mL) at concentration 0.4 mg/mL.

Conclusion: The high phenolic content in the polar extract accounts for the high antioxidant potential in comparison to non-polar extract. The results of this study substantiates the role of these plant as natural sources of antioxidants.