Determination of the Phenolic Profile by Liquid Chromatography, Evaluation of Antioxidant Activity and Toxicity of Moroccan , and ().

This study aimed to investigate the phenolic profile and selected biological activities of the leaf and aerial extracts of three species, namely , , and , collected from three different places in the north of Morocco. The phenolic composition of all extracts was determined by LC coupled with photodiode array and mass spectrometry detection. Among the investigated extracts, that of aerial parts was the richest one, with a total amount of polyphenols of 9528.93 mg/kg. Up to 59 phenolic compounds were detected: 52 were positively identified and 49 quantified-11 in , 14 in , and 24 in . In terms of chemical classes, nine were phenolic acids and 43 were flavonoids, and among them, the majority belonged to the class of flavonols. The antioxidant activity of all extracts was investigated by three different in vitro methods, namely DPPH, reducing power, and Fe chelating assays; aerial part extract was the most active, with an IC of 0.142 ± 0.014 mg/mL (DPPH test) and 1.898 ± 0.056 ASE/mL (reducing power assay). Further, all extracts were non-toxic against , thus indicating their potential safety. The findings attained in this work for such Moroccan species, never investigated so far, bring novelty to the field and show them to be valuable sources of phenolic compounds with interesting primary antioxidant properties.