Fractionation, dosage and rating of the antioxidant activity of the aqueous extract of Melissa Officinalis from northeastern Morocco

Abstract

So far, many efforts have been made to discover phytochemical alternatives to chemically synthesized antioxidants. The candidate groups of natural molecules have appeared to be polyphenols and flavonoids. In this study, the amount of phenolic and flavonoid compounds in aqueous extracts of Melissa Officinalis, from North-East Morocco (TAZA), was explored by using two common approaches (Folin Ciocalteu and Aluminum Chloride). Their antioxidant capacity was assessed by DPPH free radical scavenging assay. The results obtained demonstrated that the two fraction of ethyl acetate and diethyl ether were rich in polyphenols (505 ± 26 and 378 ± 16 μg/mg respectively) and had moderate quantities of flavonoids (8 ± 0.1 and 10 ± 0.2 μg equivalent of routine per mg of extract). At 2 µg/ml the antioxidant activities of two fractions appeared to be a lower (70 and 71%) than that of ascorbic acid (83%).