Phytochemical studies and antioxidant activity of leaves extracts of corchorus olitorius l. (molokhia)‎

Abstract EN

The aim of this study was to investigate the antioxidant activity and phytochemical analysis of the leaves extracts of Corchorus olitorius.

The phytochemical screening was carried on the leaves extracts of molokhia, revealed the presence of some active ingredients such as, alkaloids, tannins, saponins, phenols, glycosides, steroids, terpenoids and flavonoids.

The ethanolic leaves extracts were also evaluated for their total phenolic, total alkaloid, total flavonoids, saponins, tannins, ascorbic acid and antioxidant activity using 2,2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), radical scavenging assay.

The results of the present study showed that the ethanolic leaves extracts of molokhia, which contains high amount of phytochemical compounds exhibited the greater antioxidant activity than petroleum ether and aqueous extracts.

The high scavenging property may be due to hydroxyl groups existing in the phenolic compounds.

Ethanol extract contained the total phenol of 9.35 and tannins of 6.01 as mg of gallic acid equivalents (GAE), alkaloids of 28.51 as mg of atropine equivalents (AE) and flavonoids of 13.84 as mg of quercetin equivalents (QE).