Determination the chemical content of Syrian Prosopis farcta fruits and evaluation of Antioxidant Activity in vitro

Abstract

The aim of this study is determinate the chemical content of n-hexane extract of Syrian Prosopis farcta (Banks et Sol.) Macbride by Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS).and evaluate the antioxidant activity of the ethanolic extracts of the plant fruits by studying its ability to inhibit free radicals using 2,2-diphenyl-l-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. Phytochemical screening was performed by the known color and precipitated reagents. Total polyphenol and flavonoid contents were determined using Folin-Ciocalteu and aluminum chloride colorimetric methods respectively. The results of Phytochemical screening showed exist of flavonoids, tannins, saponins, but the alkaloids and anthraquinone absent in the fruits. The results also showed high content of phenols and flavonoids in plant fruits, where is the total phenolic content was  (18.018±0.37mg GAE/g plant), While the total flavonoid content was (1.295±0.210 mg QE/g plant)  Also the study showed that the ethanolic extract of 6 mg of fruits has higher activity of DPPH radical scavenging (74.39± 1.94%) Consequently, P. farcta would be considered as promising source of antioxidant phytochemicals.

As for the chemical compounds identified in n-hexane extract by GC-MS, it have been identified (22) compounds in the n-hexane extract by Soxhlet method the highest ratio for  Methyl elaidate (32.93%), then Linoleic acid, methyl ester (29.02%), the extract also contain  Methyl palmitate (18.67%), Stearic acid (5.82%), Undecane (2.06%), 11-Octadecenoic acid (1.90%), Dodecane (1.44%) and Arachidonic acid (0.95%).