Antioxidant compounds and antioxidant activities in unripe and ripe kundang fruits (

Introduction. Kundang fruit (Bouea macrophylla Griffith) is very popular in Malaysia and other ASEAN countries. The fruit is traditionally believed to impart potential health benefits, but no scientific information is available on the antioxidant compounds or the antioxidant activities in unripe and ripe kundang fruits. Materials and methods. Unripe and ripe kundang fruits were freeze-dried and subjected to three different types of solvent extraction (methanol, ethanol and distilled water). Freeze-dried samples were individually evaluated for antioxidant compounds (total phenolics, tannins, flavonoids and flavonols) and antioxidant activities (ferric reducing antioxidant power assay/FRAP assay, ABTS−+ assay and DPPH. free radical-scavenging activity assay). Results and discussion. High contents of phenolics, tannins and ascorbic acid were found in unripe fruits (extracted with methanol), whereas flavonoids and flavonols were high in ethanolic extracts. Anthocyanins were the highest in ethanolic extracts of ripe fruits. In addition, methanolic extracts of unripe fruits showed the highest antioxidant capacity [16,290.91 ¯M Fe (II) 100 g-1], with 77.69% DPPH inhibition and 99.76% ABTS.+ radical scavenging activities. Conclusion. This study clearly indicated that solvents tend to influence the extractability of antioxidant compounds. Overall, the results of this study can be of practical use in providing sufficient information on the presence of various antioxidant compounds in kundang unripe and ripe fruits, which could be commercially exploited for developing various healthy food formulations