Smartphone Application-Based Rapid Antioxidant Evaluation of Musa paradisiaca Peel Extract with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Chemical Profiling

Abstract

The increasing demand for rapid and cost-effective analytical methods has led to the development of smartphone-based applications for biochemical assays to assess antioxidant activity. In this study, the antioxidant activity of Musa paradisiaca peel ethyl acetate fraction (MPPEF) was evaluated using a conventional spectrophotometer and a smartphone application designed to quantify radical scavenging activity. Antioxidant capacity was assessed through reducing power and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assays. For vitamin C, the reducing power assay showed a consistent concentration-dependent pattern between spectrophotometer and smartphone measurements, supporting the reliability of the mobile-based approach. In the DPPH radical scavenging assay, the mobile-based method also exhibited clear concentration-dependent behavior, further validating the method. Similarly, MPPEF exhibited clear dose-dependent antioxidant activity in both reducing power and DPPH radical assays, and the smartphone-based analysis showed comparable concentration-dependent trends to those obtained with the spectrophotometer. These findings suggest that smartphone-based colorimetric analysis not only demonstrates a consistent pattern with conventional spectrophotometry but also serves as a practical and portable alternative for antioxidant evaluation.