TITLE:
Phytochemical Screening, Extraction of Essential Oils and Antioxidant Activity of Five Species of Unconventional Vegetables
AUTHORS:
Marcos Schleiden Sousa Carvalho, Maria das Graças Cardoso, Luciane Vilela Resende, Marcos de Souza Gomes, Luiz Roberto Marques Albuquerque, Anni Cristini Silvestri Gomes, Thaís Aparecida Sales, Karen Caroline Camargo, David Lee Nelson, Gabriele Mikami Costa, Mariana Araújo Espósito, Luis Felipe Lima e Silva
KEYWORDS:
Rumex acetosa L., Tropaeolum majus L., Stachys byzantina K. Koch, Reducing Power
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.6 No.16,
October
27,
2015
ABSTRACT: Unconventional vegetables, in general, are plants that have been largely consumed by the population
at some point and, because of changes in eating behavior, now present reduced economic and
social expression and have lost ground to other vegetables. The objectives of this study were to
perform phytochemical screening of the ethanol extracts of Rumex acetosa L., Tropaeolum majus L.,
Solanum muricatum, Stachys byzantina K. Koch and Solanum betaceum Cav. and evaluate their antioxidant
potentials via the methods involving scavaging of the DPPH free radical and the ABTS
radical, phosphomolybdenum and reducing power. In phytochemical screening, five species of
unconventional vegetables tested positive for tannins; for sesquiterpene, lactones and other lactones.
These tests were positive for Tropaeolum majus L. and Rumex acetosa L., Solanum betaceum
Cav. and Solanum muricatum tested negative for steroids. Only Solanum betaceum Cav. gave positive
tests for flavonoids. Among the five plant species studied, Stachys byzantina K. Koch presented
the greatest antioxidant potential in all the methods evaluated.