Phytochemical Screening, Composition and In Vitro Antioxidant Activity of Algerian Chrysanthemum coronarium (L.) Extracts

Abstract

The Algerian flora is rich in medicinal plants that are commonly used in folk medicine for the treatment of various diseases. The present study was designed to investigate phytochemical screening, the total phenolic and flavonoid contents, as well as the antioxidant properties of areal parts extracts from Chrysanthemum coronarium (L.) collected from Algiers region in the northeast of Algeria. The organic extracts of this plant were obtained by Soxhlet extraction using three different solvents, namely water, methanol and ethanol. The antioxidant capacity of areal parts extracts was measured using DPPH, ABTS and reducing power assays. The results of our preliminary phytochemical analysis of C. coronarium (L.) areal parts showed the presence of major known family compounds like phenolic compounds, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, terpenoids, quinones, steroids, proteins, alkaloids, quinones triterpenoids, reducing compounds, starch and mucilage with absence of glycosides. The methanolic extract analysis showed a higher yield extraction and the determination of phenolic contents showed a significant value of 208.50 ± 0.25 mg GAE/mg of extract in comparison with the ethanolic extract (164.785 ± 0.04 mg GAE/mg of extract) and aqueous extract (132.642 ± 0.38 mg GAE/mg of extract). Also, the determination of the flavonoid contents revealed that the methanolic extract contained the highest value (23.46 ± 0.08 mg CE/mg of extract) in comparison with the ethanolic extract (21.86 ± 0.17 mg CE/mg of extract) and aqueous extract (12.63 ± 0.32 CE/mg of extract). Concerning the antioxidant properties, interesting values were attained for the methanolic extract which exhibited higher antioxidant activity, namely IC50 = 4.72 ± 0.06 mg/L and IC50 = 2.49 ± 0.01 mg/L for DPPH and ABTS assays, respectively, whereas a value of 2.43 ± 0.02 mg/L was obtained for the reducing power assay. The results achieved confirm the important role of this plant as a source of natural antioxidants.