Antioxidant Capacity and Phenolic Composition of Crateva adansonii DC. (Capparaceae)

Crateva adansonii DC. (C. adansonii) is well known in Burkina Faso as edible and medicinal plant. This study aims at determining the antioxidant capacity of its leaves and to investigate their phenolic composition. Three methods, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), ABTS radical cation scavenging capacity, and free radical scavenging capacity (DPPH) were used to determine the antioxidant capacity of the leaves fractions. The phenolic compounds were using HPLC-MS method. The best ferric reducing antioxidant power was found in n-BuOHF with a concentration of 818.247 mol AAE/g. The same trend was observed with the ABTS radical cation scavenging capacity, where the n-BuOHF (15.036 mol TE/g) presented the highest activity. On the other hand, the MeOHF showed the most potent DPPH radical scavenging activity (202.811 mol QE/g). The leaves of C. adansonii were disclosed to be a rich source of phenolic compounds. Among the ten phenolic compounds, p-coumaric, ferulic and sinapic acids, isoquercitrin, quercitrin, quercetol and kaempferol were identified as major phenolic compounds. C. adansonii leaf fractions exhibit remarkable antioxidant capacity, and this activity may correlate to the content and the type of phenolic compounds.