EVALUATION OF THE USE OF DIFFERENT SOLVENTS FOR PHYTOCHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS AND ANTIOXIDANTS ACTIVITY OF THE LEAVES OF MURRAYA KOENIGII (LINN.) SPRENG. (RUTACEAE)

Murraya koenigii (Rutaceae) is a promising source of bioactive compounds since the leaves of this plant has been traditionally used extensively in the Indian Ayurvedic system of medicine for the treatment of a wide range of diseases and disorders. Although the pharmacological effect of the plant’s bioactive compounds has been extensively studied, however, study on the effect of using different extraction solvents to extract these bioactive componentsis scarce. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of different solvents on extraction yields, phytochemical constituents and antioxidants activity of dehydrated Murrayakoenigi leaves. The results showed that the used solvents play an important role in the yield of extraction and the content of chemical components. Methanol was identified as the most effective solvent for the extraction, resulting in the highest extraction yield (5.70%) as well as the highest content of phenolic (27.2 mg GAE/g DW) and flavonoid (15.55 mg QE/g DW). The extract obtained from methanol exhibited highest antioxidant scavenging activity (93%), (using 2,2-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay), and the antioxidant activity of Murraya koenigi leaves extract was found to be higher than ascorbic acid. Therefore, methanol is recommended as the optimal solvent to obtain high content of phytochemical constituents as well as high antioxidants constituents from Murraya koenigi leaves for utilization in pharmacognosy. To best of our knowledge this is the first report that directly compares these 4 extraction solvents for the extraction of bioactive components from Murraya koenigi leaves.