Abstract

Zhumeria majdae Rech.f and Wendelbo is a unique plant which is only distributed in south of Iran (Hormozgan province). In present study, the antioxidant activities and phenolic compounds of Z. majdae fractions and subfractions have been investigated. The plant material was extracted by ethanol. The fractionation was carried out by using liquid-liquid extraction. Then the ethyl acetate fraction was submitted to further fractionation by using MPLC. Five subfractions (1 - 5) were collected. The reducing power of the ethyl acetate fraction was more than all other subfractions. Ethyl acetate subfraction 2 possessed the greatest radical scavenging activity (IC₅₀ = 41.85 ± 0.61 µg/ml)among all of the Z. majdae subfractions. No significant differences exist between the IC₅₀ of this subfraction and quercetin (IC₅₀ = 38.84 ± 0.84 µg/ml), P > 0.05. The greatest amount of phenolic compounds (1.98 ± 0.01 mg/g) and flavonoids (357.4 ± 18.7 µg/ml) were detected in ethyl acetate subfraction 2.

Key words: Zhumeria majdae, antioxidant activity, reducing power, free radical scavenging activity, phenolic compounds.