A new method for quantification of total polyphenol content in medicinal plants based on the reduction of Fe(III)/1,10-phenanthroline complexes

Mônica Gabriela do Santo, Cecilia Veronica Nunez, Horacio Dorigan Moya

Faculdade de Medicina da Funda??o do ABC, CEPES (Centro de Estudos, Pesquisa, Preven??o e Tratamento em Saúde), Santo André, Brazil.
Laboratório de Bioprospec??o e Biotecnologia, COTI (Coordena??o de Tecnologia e Inova??o), INPA (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amaz?nia), Manaus, Brazil.

DOI: 10.4236/abc.2013.36059                

Abstract

This paper proposes an alternative analytical spectrophotometric method for the total polyphenol quantification in the aqueous extract of plants. When these extracts are added to solutions of Fe(III), in presence of 1,10-phenanthroline, the absorbance values at 551 nm (A_511nm) due to the complexes formed are proportional to the total polyphenol concentration expressed as pyrogallic acid (PA). A typical calibration graph of A_511nm values vs. PA is linear from 0.16 to 0.64 mg L^-1 (r = 0.994, n = 6) with a limit of detection 0.041 mg L^-1. The results of the polyphenol content of the aqueous extracts of twenty medicinal Brazilian plants obtained with the proposed method were compared with values using the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. A paired t-test revealed no statistically significant difference for the species analyzed. The total antioxidant capacity of the same twenty extracts was determined based on the scavenging of stable radical DPPH.

Keywords

Polyphenols; Medicinal Brazilian Plants; 1, 10-Phenanthroline; Iron (III); Antioxidant Activity

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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