Phytochemical Study and Evaluation of the Antioxidant Activity of Dichapetalum madagascariense (Dichapetalaceae)

Dichapetalum madagascariense is a medicinal plant of the Dichapetalaceae family, widely used in traditional medicine in Benin. In the present work we have prepared the hydro ethanolic extract from the dried leaves of this plant and the yield of crude extract (hydro ethanolic) is about 23%. Quantitative estimation of flavonoids and total phenols by colorimetric method and Folin Ciocalteux method showed that the extract is very rich in these compounds. The evaluation of the antioxidant power which was carried out by using the DPPH free radical scavenging method and the FRAP iron reduction method revealed that the hydroethanolic extract of Dichapetalum madagascariense has a higher reducing power than that of ascorbic acid.