PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING, ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF PURE SYRINGIN IN COMPARISON TO VARIOUS SOLVENTS EXTRACTS OF MUSA PARADISIACA (BANANA) (FRUIT AND FLOWER) AND TOTAL PHENOLIC CONTENTS

Objective: The study concentrated on exploring the radical scavenging activity of various banana extracts in comparison to pure syringin and the total phenolic contents of the extracts. Methods: The banana parts were prepared and extracted by cold extraction technique and the extracts obtained were used to carry out some phytochemical screening by Trease and Evans method. The ability of the extract to scavenge free radicals was measured using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-pcrylhydrazyl radical using quercetin as a reference radical scavenger by the method of Gyamfi. Further analysis of total phenolic contents present in the extracts was carried out using Singleton and Rossi method. Results: Tepal methanol extract was found to have the highest radical scavenging activity compared to others, such as tepal ethanol, tepal aqueous, skin methanol, flesh methanol and pure syringin. The IC 50 value of the tepal methanol extract was found to be 22.5 µg/ml. The highest total phenolic contents (expressed as microgram of Gallic acid equivalent per gram of the extracts) were found in tepal methanol extract (8000 µg/g) and the least in Flesh methanol extract (2150 µg/g). Conclusion: The results generated from this study showed that tepal banana extracts possess very good radical scavenging activity and as well the largest amount of phenolic contents, which could introduce phenols as the main radical scavenger in banana extracts and offering effective protection from free radicals, and the antioxidant activity of pure syringin was not obvious may be due to the presence of highly anti oxidative compounds present in banana, phenolics and flavonoids.