Seasonal variation of phytochemicals, antioxidant and photoprotective activities from sw aqueous leaves extracts.

Chronic exposure to the sun is associated with photoaging and skin cancer and plants are an alternative for green sunscreen formulations. Swartz (Sw.), a species endemic to Brazil, has been used in traditional medicine to treat inflammation and diarrhoea. This study aimed to investigate the seasonal composition and antioxidant and photoprotective activities of leaves aqueous extract (PGLE), and the impact of climate data on the compound production for 2 years. The higher amounts of phenolics were found in the autumn and spring, by LC-MS/MS methods, showing a correlation with precipitation for phenolics and flavonoids, humidity for carotenoids, minimum and maximum temperatures for quercetin, and cloudiness for gallic acid. All seasons demonstrated high antioxidant capacity associated with phenolics, quercetin, and catechin. The high phenolic composition, carotenoids, tannins, and flavonoids were correlated with the photoprotection. Therefore, the results suggested that PGLE has potential photoprotective and antioxidant agents suitable for therapeutic applications, such as green sunscreens.