Preliminary Study: Vitamin C in Paederia Foetida Leaves

摘要

Paederia foetida is an important perennial climbing medicinal herb native to eastern Asia. It is used as aremedy for diarrhea, dysentery, rheumatism and fever in Asia. Malay called this plant ‘akar sekentut‘ and it is often eatenraw or steamed by local people rather than using it as traditional medicine. This preliminary study aims to determine theamount of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in local Paederia foetida leaves. The dried leaves were soaked in ethanol for one dayat room temperature before being evaporated to obtain the extract. Then, high performance liquid chromatographyanalysis has been used to analyze the samples. Results obtained show amount of vitamin C in mature leaves is higher thanyoung leaves with 66 ppm and 64 ppm respectively. This showed that, paederia foetida leaves consist considerable highamount of vitamin C and more study should be done on this local species to investigate chemical active compounds withbiological function potential.