Assessment of In Vitro Antioxidant Efficacy and Phytochemical Profiling in Different Solvent Extracts of Cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis Aubl.).
Cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis Aubl.) a tropical plant belongs to Lecythidaceae family, and has a great potential source of bioactive compounds due its diverse ethnobotanical uses. The present study was carried out to assess the effect of different extraction solvents on the antioxidant properties and phytochemical profiles of various parts of C. guianensis. Among the different parts of C. guianensis evaluated, leaves exhibited the best antioxidant activity and highest amount of phytoconstituents in comparison to petals and bark. Moreover, methanol was identified as the most suitable solvent for extraction resulting in optimal IC50 values towards DPPH (212.54 µg/ml), ABTS (381.66 µg/ml) and metal chelation (442.64 µg/ml), as well as highest content of phenolic (82.92 mg GAE/g DW), flavonoids (12.06 mg QE/g DW) and total carotene. The methanolic extract of leaves showed promising inhibition potential against linoleic acid of 75.55% and phytochemicals like alkaloids, glycosides, tannins and terpenoids were found at elevated level. Therefore, methanol is recommended as optimal solvent for extracting bioactive compounds from C. guianensis leaves at significant level and may serve as potential antioxidant agent for further drug discovery and development.