Evaluation of Antioxidant Compounds and Free Radical Scavenging Ability of Pomegranate Fruit Peels

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to investigate the phytochemical profile and antioxidant activity of pomegranate fruit peels. Qualitative and quantitative phytochemical analyses were made for various solvent extracts of fruit peel of pomegranate and for antioxidant activity, ethanolic extract alone was used.The preliminary phytochemical analysis revealed that higher number of secondary metabolites was found in ethanolic extract of fruit peel than the other solvent extracts. The total phenolics and flavonoids contents of ethanolic fruit peel extract was found to be 246.5 mg GAE/100g extract and 83.95 mg QE/100g extractrespectively. The ethanolic fruit peel extracts unveiled highest scavenging ability by quenching the DPPH free radicals with the IC50 value, 142.90µg/mL. The present study showed that the tested pomegranate peels exhibited strong antioxidant activity. These results suggest that pomegranate fruit peel could be exploited as a potential source of natural antioxidant agent.