Variation of the antioxidant activity with the extraction method and solvent selection

Abstract

Extraction is a significant step in the processing of the crude drug to get its chemical constituents out and keep them of high and exportable quality. The plants have various chemical constituents that are responsible for various activities in which antioxidant activity is the important one. There is another step that is crucial in the extraction process that is the selection of the suitable for extraction. Various solvents are used for extraction. They too range from the highly non-polar solvents like benzene and chloroform to the highly polar solvents like Ethanol and distilled water. So, in this work, the focus has been put on to find the effect of the extraction method and the extraction solvent on the antioxidant profile of the guava leaves. The extracts of the solvent Water in the method of ultrasound showed the highest inhibition of the free radicals and the least was with the extracts of the pet ether and using soxhlation. This is indicative that the method of extraction is critical, and the solvent of extraction played a vital role in the content of chemical constituents and the pharmacological activity too. The results showed that the ultrasound method was beneficial in extracting the soft drugs like leaves, and the distilled water was effective in extracting the chemicals from the guava leaves.