Antioxidant Activities Correlation Analysis of Procyanidins from China Cultivars Litchi Pericarp

Ethanol extracts of litchi pericarp procyanidins (LPPC) were purified from 7 Chinese litchi cultivars. The procyanidin contents in LPPC were ranged from 659.7 mg to 1163.2 mg grape seed procyanidins/g equivalent, while the concentrations of (-)-epicatechin, procyanidin dimmer and trimer were further investigated as well. Antioxidation and free radical scavenging activities of LPPC from different sources were evaluated and compared in vitro. The results showed that LPPC for ‘Huaizhi’ owned the highest free radical scavenging activity on hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), superoxide radical ( ) and ferric reducing; ‘Feizixiao’ exhibited the highest scavenging capacity on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH·), hydroxyl radical (·OH) and lipid peroxidation, however, ‘Guiwei’ possessed the highest value of antioxidant activity based on β-carotene bleaching and ferrous chelating assay. Furthermore, the compositions of LPPC suggested positive correlations with their antioxidant activities significantly.