Activity-guided isolation of free radical scavengers from Picrorhiza kurroa Royle ex Benth leaves.

Picrorhiza kurroa Royle ex Benth is a traditional therapeutic herb, which grows at higher altitude of the western Himalayas and is listed as an endangered species of India. P. kurroa is an important source of antioxidants, but most of the reports for their isolation are from its roots, which requires uprooting of the whole plant, resulting in its loss. In the current manuscript, we report the activity-directed isolation as a simple and less complicated method for the isolation of antioxidants from the P. kurroa leaves. Extraction of P. kurroa leaves was performed using various solvents, which were analysed for total phenolic content, DPPH, and ABTS assays. The activity-guided fractionation of MeOH:H₂O (8:2, v/v) extract gave 4-hydroxyacetophenone, vanillic acid, luteolin, picroside II, and 1-O-β-galloyl glucose as major constituents with antioxidant activity.