Phytochemical screening and antioxidant activity of date(Phoenix dactylifera) seed extracts

Abstract

Dates consisting of 90% flesh have been known to have various benefits, but the remaining 10% of them in the form of seeds has not been utilized optimally. The date palm contains a fairly high polyphenol compound, which can act as an antioxidant. This study aims to determine the antioxidant activity of methanol extract and fractionation of the extract of dates using the in vitro method of DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrilhidrazil). The date seeds are made into simplicia, macerated with methanol, and then the extracted methanol is gradually fractionated by n-hexane, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, and water. Each fraction and extract is phytochemically screened using the standard methods and its antioxidant activity is determined by DPPH method. Methanol extract, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, and water fractions contain tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids, and saponin, while the n-hexane fraction not contain phytochemical compound based on the phytochemical screening. The ethyl acetate fraction has the strongest antioxidant activity with the lowest IC50 value, that is equal to 3.72 ± 0.44 μg/mL, followed by methanol extract of 4.71 ± 0.64 μg/mL, n-butanol fraction of 6.62 ± 0.08 μg/mL, water fraction of 53.00 ± 18.96 μg/mL, and n-hexane fraction of 250.19 ± 9.69 μg/ mL, while the IC50 value of vitamin C as the positive control is 4.29 ± 0.74 μg/mL. Therefore, date seeds can be a source of natural antioxidants.