Activity-guided isolation of antioxidant principles from the Algerian desert herb Fagonia sp. (Zygophyllaceae)

There is great interest in finding antioxidants from natural sources, which could be used in medicine and additive to nutraceuticals to prevent such deleterious effect and to minimize oxidative damage to cells.

As a part of our investigation into medicinal plants growing in Algerian Sahara; in this study we investigate for the first time the antioxydant activity and compare phenolic and flavonoids contents of extracts from the aerial part of Fagonia sp.(F. glutinosa & F. longispina) used as medicinal plants by local population in Algerian Sahara.

Hexane, Chloroform, Methanol and Ethyl acetate extracts from these deserts herb were tested in vitro for their antioxidant activity determined by DPPH radical scavenging. The total phenolics and flavonoids content of the extracts were determined, in order to establish the correlations between these contents and the measured activities. Methanol and Ethyl acetate extracts exhibited a strong antioxidant activity which may be caused by the presence of Phenolic compounds. Thus from the ethyl acetate extract of the aerial parts of F. Glutinosa six flavonoids derivatives were characterized as: isorhamnetin 3-glucoside, kaempferol 7-O-glucoside, kaempferol 3-O-glucoside, kaempferol-7-O-rhamnoside, acacetin-7-O-rhamnoside and 8-methoxyflavones which seem to be the major antioxidant components of the bioactive fractions.