Effect of solvent on Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activities of Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench Pods’ Oils Extracts

摘要

Background and Objective: Abelmoschus esculentus (Okra) is an important vegetable crop because of the numerous uses of the fresh leaves, buds, flowers, pods, stems and seeds as food and medicine. Effect of polar and non-polar solvent on the chemical composition and phyto chemical properties of A. esculentus pods’ oils was determined since polarity of solvent has relative effect on the extractives which include chemical and nutritional constituents. Materials and Methods: The pods’ oil was extracted using hexane and methanol and the chemical constituent was determined using Gas-Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) while the antioxidant activity was determined using the 2, 2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) and total phenolic content measurement methods. Results: The result revealed that the oil obtained from hexane contained more phytochemicals, 19 constituents dominated with palmitic acid, 10, 13-octadecadienoic acid, methyl ester, methyl linoleate and methyl linolenate while palmitic acid, methyl ester, methyl linoleate and methyl linolenate were identified as the major compounds in the methanol extract containing 11 constituents. The methanol extract with 77.7% scavenging activity was significant in the antioxidant assay using the stable radical 2,2-diphenyl picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) when compared with ascorbic acid used as standard. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the hexane extract contain more fatty acid ester than the methanol extract but the methanol extract has free radical scavenging ability when compared with the hexane extract.