Screening of radical scavenging activity of some medicinal and aromatic plant extracts

Extracts of 12 medicinal and aromatic plants were investigated for their radical scavenging activity using DPPH and ABTS assays: Salvia sclarea, Salvia glutinosa, Salvia pratensis, Lavandula angustifolia, Calendula officinalis, Matricaria recutita, Echinacea purpurea, Rhaponticum carthamoides, Juglans regia, Melilotus officinalis, Geranium macrorrhizum and Potentilla fruticosa. Salvia officinalis was used as a reference plant with well documented antioxidant activity. G. macrorrhizum and P. fruticosa extracts possessed very high radical scavenging activity (RSA) in both assays, higher than that of S. officinalis extract. High RSA was also characteristic to other Salvia species and Rhaponticum carthamoides. The content of total phenolic compounds, flavonoids and flavonols was measured in plant extracts. A correlation between radical scavenging capacities of extracts with total phenolic compound content was observed. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.