Abstract
Free radicals are molecules or atoms that have at least one unpaired electron which increases the chemical reactivity of the molecule. The main objectives of the present study was to evaluate the antioxidant potential and HPLC screening of antioxidant compounds (rutin, quercetin and gallic acid) from Quercus dilatata L. The antioxidant activity of Q. dilatata L. extracts/fractions was determined by using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay. Four partitioned fractions of Q. dilatata (n-hexane, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and aqueous) were prepared among which ethyl acetate fraction showed highest activity (IC50 38.02 mu g/ml). Furthermore, the screening of rutin, quercetin and gallic acid in the partitioned fractions was done by HPLC-DAD which showed that the most active fraction i.e. ethyl acetate fraction contains all of them while aqueous fraction showed the presence of two i.e., rutin and gallic acid. Butanol fraction showed only rutin content, while n-hexane fraction did not show the presence of any of the above mentioned compounds. Thus it can be concluded that good antioxidant potentials may be due to the presence of these well known antioxidant compounds in Q. dilatata in association with other unidentified compounds.