PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND EFFICACY AS AN ANTIOXIDANT FROM GUAVA LEAVES

Free radicals are molecules that have free electrons, very harmful to health. One of the efforts to overcome it is with antioxidants. Naturally, in the body, there are antioxidants, namely superoxide dismutase, glutathione, and catalase, but depending on food intake, especially containing phenolics and flavonoids. Traditionally, guava leaves are used to treat diarrhea, dysentery, lower cholesterol, irregular menstruation, wounds, and canker sores. Judging from these various properties, it is possible that guava leaves contain chemical compounds that have the potential as antioxidants, especially phenolic compounds, the authors tested the ability of guava leaves as antioxidants. Guava leaves were prepared into ethanol extract, fractionated with n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and water, and phytochemical screening was carried out on the ethanol extract and each fraction. Antioxidant testing was carried out using the Radical Scavenger using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl. The test results showed that the ethanol extract contained alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, steroids, saponins, and glycosides. The n-hexane fraction contains alkaloids and glycosides. the ethyl acetate fraction contains tannins. the water fraction contains tannins and glycosides. As antioxidants, ethanol extract and water fraction were categorized as strong with IC50 ethanol = 42.06 g/ml, water fraction = 49.41 g/mL, n-hexane and ethyl acetate fractions were categorized as medium with IC50 fraction n-hexane = 58.15 g /mL, ethyl acetate fraction = 51.60 g/ml.