Bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of Rhaponticum acaule (L.) DC

Abstract

Rhaponticum acaule (L.) DC. is a medicinal plant commonly used for the treatment of some illnesses such as gastrointestinal infections. In this work, we report the composition of different parts of this plant on phenolic compounds, their quantification, and antioxidant activity. The obtained results reported that methanolic extracts of the three parts studied revealed high phenolic contents. For flavonoid contents, the highest contents were reported in organic extracts of leaf part. In addition, results obtained from the study of the antioxidant activity showed that methanolic extract of root presented the highest activity, in DPPH^• scavenging ability test with an IC₅₀ of 0.31 ± 0.04 mg/mL and in FRAP test with an EC₅₀ of 1.06 ± 0.02 mg/mL. The RP-HPLC-PDA analysis revealed the presence of five phenolic acids (sinapic, caffeic, chlorogenic, ferulic and syringic acids), one flavanone (naringenin), one flavonol (rutin) and vanillin.

Graphical abstract

Keywords:

• Rhaponticum acaule
• asteraceae
• medicinal plants
• phenolic compounds
• antioxidant activity
• RP-HPLC-PDA

Acknowledgement

The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr KAZI Choukry (University of Tlemcen- Department of Pharmacy) for his help in the identification of the plant.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.