A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES AND PHENOLIC CONTENTS OF DIFFERENT EXTRACTS OF A CHILLEA NOBILIS SUBSP SIPYLEA AND ALCEA APTEROCARPA (FENZL) BOISS, ENDEMIC PLANTS IN TURKEY
The present study was designed for the comparison of the antioxidant activities and total phenolic contents of different extracts obtained from Achillea nobilis subsp. sipylea and Alcea apterocarpa (FENZL) BOISS, which are two endemic species for the flora of Turkey. Plants were extracted using various solvents with different polarities by four extraction methods (Soxhlet extraction, maceration, infusion, decoction). Antioxidant activities were determined by 2,2-iphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay and Folin Ciocalteu reagent was used to estimate total phenolic compounds in plant extracts. The results indicated that, infusion and decoction of A. nobilis subsp. sipylea exhibited relatively strong antioxidant activities with IC50 values of 61.0 mu g/m1 and 83.1 mu g/ml, respectively among all plant extracts. Similarly, total phenolic contents of infusion (139 +/- 2.78 mg GAE/g) and decoction (137 +/- 6.09 mg GAE/g) extracts of A. nobilis subsp. sipylea were found to be highest among all extracts. Although all extracts of A. apterocarpa showed varying degrees of antioxidant activity, these activities were found to be rather weak compared to A. nobilis subsp. sipylea extracts. The present results have demonstrated that, the extracts of A. nobilis subsp. sipylea and A. apterocarpa can be regarded as promising candidates for natural plant sources of antioxidants
