Phytochemical Profile and Antioxidant Activity of L Growing in Morocco.

BACKGROUND

L (NS) is a powerful antioxidant and medicinal plant with many therapeutic applications particularly in traditional medicine for respiratory, gastrointestinal, rheumatic, and inflammatory disorders, as well as cancer.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to extract the active ingredients from the Moroccan L and determine its antioxidant properties. We hypothesize that the separation of the compounds from L has either a positive or negative effect on antioxidants. To study this, we explored different methods to simultaneously extract and separate compounds from L and performed antioxidant tests (-carotene and DPPH) for all collected fractions.

METHODS

L was hot-extracted by Soxhlet and mother extracts and was separated using silica column chromatography with adequate eluents. Qualitative phytochemical tests to determine the chemical families in L seeds were performed on the fractions. They were also identified and characterized by GC-MS and HPLC-DAD. Then, antioxidant activity was examined by -carotene bleaching and DPPH radical scavenger tests. . The mother extract hexane generated eight different fractions () and the acetone extract generated 11 fractions (). The fractions had a high percentage of fatty acids, and the fractions had some interesting polyphenols derivative compounds. Phytochemical screening revealed secondary metabolites such as polyphenols flavonoids, alkaloids, steroids, terpenes coumarins, tannins, and saponins. We found that only two solvents (hexane, acetone) of different polarities could easily extract and simultaneously separate the components of L. The antioxidant fractions that we collected had close activity to reference compounds but were more active than the corresponding mother extracts. Moreover, several IC values of fractions from acetone extract were better than those from hexane. Therefore, the antioxidant activity of L is more attributed to flavonoids and polyphenols than fatty acids. In summary, the separation of hexane extract presents a more pronounced positive effect for antioxidant tests than acetone extract.