Antioxidant profile of hot and sweet pepper cultivars by two extraction methods

ABSTRACT Chili peppers are among the most important vegetables in the world. The demand of this fruit reveals a noticeable rapid increasing, which importance is mainly due to its nutraceutical composition. These fruits are rich in capsaicinoids, phenolic compounds, carotenoids, and others, including vitamins. In this study, a comparative evaluation between two extraction methods of bioactive compounds of fourteen chili pepper cultivars was performed. Two extraction methods for antioxidants, the time-solvent and the ultrasound were evaluated. The design of the experiment was completely randomized with three repetitions where variables evaluated were total phenolic compounds, flavonoids content, antioxidant capacity and capsaicin. Results showed that the phenolic compounds oscillated between 48.7 - 634.1 mg GAE/100 g dry weight (DW), the flavonoids content varied from 1 - 97 mg QE/100 g DW, the antioxidant activity from 65 - 348 µmol Trolox/g DW and the capsaicin content oscillated from 0.3 - 922 mg/100 g DW. The extraction method with higher values of bioactive compounds for each of the chili pepper types was the ultrasound for all the measured variables.