Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Extraction and antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds from okra flowers

Sheng Geng¹, Yang Liu², Hanjun Ma¹, Chungang Chen¹

¹School of Food Science, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang 453003; ²Department of Food Science, Xinyang College of Agriculture and Forestry, Xinyang 464000, China.

For correspondence:- Chungang Chen Email: ccg28@126.com

Received: 26 December 2014 Accepted: 11 April 2014 Published: 26 May 2015

Citation: Geng S, Liu Y, Ma H, Chen C. Extraction and antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds from okra flowers. Trop J Pharm Res 2015; 14(5):807-814 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v14i5.10

© 2015 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the extraction and antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds from Okra flowers.

Methods: The phenolic compounds in Okra flowers was obtained by traditional solvent extraction method and determined by Folin-Ciocalteu (FC) method. The extraction was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). The antioxidant activity of the obtained extract was determined by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and reducing power assays.

Results: The optimal extraction conditions were as follows: extraction time, 2.5 h; ethanol concentration, 59.16 %; extraction temperature, 73.91 °C; and liquid-solid ratio, 20 mL/g. The mean total phenolics yield under the optimum conditions was 40.77±0.83 mg GAE /g material, which is near the predicted value of 44.20 mg GAE /g material. The total phenolics of the extract was an effective scavenger in quenching DPPH radicals. A linear correlation between the concentration of the total phenolics extract and reducing power was observed with a correlation coefficient (r²) of 0.9973.

Conclusion: Using RSM, the extraction of total phenolics in okra flowers has been optimized. The extract exhibits a strong DPPH radical scavenging activity and reducing power, which makes it a potential functional ingredient in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Keywords: Okra flowers, Extraction, Response surface methodology, Phenolics, Antioxidant