title: The free radical scavenging and antioxidant activities of pod and seed extract of Clitoria fairchildiana (Howard)- an underutilized legume.
abstract: We evaluated the phenolic content and antioxidant capacities of pod and seed extracts (in methanol, ethanol, and water) of an underutilized legume, Clitoria fairchildiana (Howard). The antioxidant capacity of the extracts was determined using the ferric reducing antioxidant potential assay, and the free radical-scavenging capacity was evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical-scavenging and ABTS assays. In addition, the total flavonoids, flavonols, and tannin contents were also determined. Overall, the methanol extracts of the pod contained high concentration of phenolics and showed high antioxidant capacities compared to seed extracts. In addition, a positive correlation was found between total phenol and tannin versus antioxidant capacity. Results of the present study indicate pods and seeds of C. fairchildiana to possess rich amount of natural antioxidants, and can be further explored for their possible use as a natural additive in food or in pharmaceutical industries.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Drug Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, 11800 Malaysia.
authors.forename: H V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Annegowda
authors.affiliation: Food Technology Division, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, 11800 Malaysia.
authors.forename: Rajeev
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bhat
authors.affiliation: Bioprocess Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, 11800 Malaysia.
authors.forename: Liong Min
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Tze
authors.affiliation: Food Technology Division, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, 11800 Malaysia.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Karim
authors.affiliation: Centre for Drug Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, 11800 Malaysia.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Mansor
keywords: Antioxidant activity; Clitoria fairchildiana; Flavonoids; Polyphenols; Solvent extraction