A broad assessment of Eremurus spectabilis M. Bieb: chemical and elemental composition, total phenolic and antimicrobial activity analysis, and quantum chemical calculations of radical scavenging potential

ABSTRACT

Eremurus spectabilis M. Bieb was extensively investigated experimentally and theoretically, including the antioxidant properties of compounds such as flavonoids, hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives, hydroxybenzoic acid derivatives, and organic acids. Antioxidant activity was investigated using the Density Functional Theory (DFT) method based on three known mechanisms: hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), single electron transfer followed by proton transfer (SET-PT), and sequential proton loss electron transfer (SPLET). Subcritical water extraction (SWE), soxhlet extraction (SE), and solvent extraction (SOE) techniques were applied in the extraction process. Malic acid was the major compound with an extract concentration of 38,532.84 ± 1849.58 µg analyte/kg, total phenolics, and free radical scavenging activity were 10.67 mg gallic acid/mL extract and 73.89% per mg/mL extract, respectively. P, Fe, Na, Mg, K, and Ca were the main elements. The antibacterial activity of E. spectabilis against seven bacteria was evaluated, and it was found to be higher than the commercial antibiotics P10 and AMC30.

KEYWORDS:

• Antibacterial effect
• DPPH
• Eremurus spectabilis
• extraction
• subcritical water

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Research Fund of Siirt University in Turkey with Project Number: 2015-SİUFEB-33. The numerical calculations reported in this paper were partially performed at TUBITAK ULAKBIM, High Performance and Grid Computing Center (TRUBA resources).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2023.2214100

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its supplementary materials.

Highlights

Quantum chemical calculations of radical scavenging analysis were performed.

Chemical composition of E. Spectabilis Bieb. was determined.

27 elements were found in E. Spectabilis Bieb. using ICP-MS analysis.

Antibacterial activity of E. Spectabilis Bieb. against seven bacteria was evaluated.

Eremurus Spectabilis Bieb. is suggested to be used as food and food ingredients.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.