Compuestos fenólicos y actividad antioxidante de los extractos de la hoja de chirimoya (Annona cherimola Mill)

After harvesting cherimoya fruit, the trees release huge amounts of leaves, which are burned by farmers. This work shows that the leaves can be used as a source of antioxidants. Total phenolic compounds (TPC) and antioxidant activity (AA) of extracts of the dry leaf of Annona cherimola Mill in 70% v/v ethanol, water at 80 °C, subcritical water (SW) at 110 °C, 120 °C and 130 °C were determined, following a factorial design with the Minitab program. The TPC was quantified with the Folin Ciocalteu methodology, and the AA with 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrilhidrazil (DPPH) and Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP). Results indicate that the type of solvent and the extraction time had a significant effect on the TPC and AA of the extracts. Extracts of cherimoya leaves were found to be a potential antioxidant. The extract of SW at 130 °C presented the highest content of TPC (5.6 g EAG/100 g dry leaves) and the ethanolic extract had the highest AA (0.86 mg trolox equivalent/mg dry extract, IC50 = 0.020 mg dry extract/mL extract of dry leaves and FRAP of 1710.14 μmol ET/g dry leaves) and the extracts obtained with SW at a lower temperature presented a higher AA value.