Phytochemicals and Biological Activity Studies of Anacardium occidentale

Abstract

Anacardium occidentale, locally known as “pokok gajus” is known for its medicinal purposes. The objectives of this study are to isolate compounds from the stem barks extract of A. occidentale and to study the antioxidant properties of the extracts. Cold maceration method was performed to extract the compounds present in the samples. Purification of the crude extracts using column chromatography had successfully isolated two compounds. The isolated compounds were elucidated using spectroscopic methods which were Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopies. These compounds were identified as stearic acid and β-sitosterol. The antioxidant potential of the crude extracts were determined using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay. The results revealed that methanol extract was most effective in the capability to scavenge free radical as it exhibited the highest radical scavenging activity towards DPPH with an IC50 value of 87.67 μg/mL. Total phenolic content and total flavonoid content of the extracts were measured. The total phenolic and flavonoid contents showed significant correlations with the antioxidant activity indicated that phenolic and flavonoid compounds were the major contributors to the antioxidant capacity of the extracts. Based on the findings, A. occidentale can be considered as an effective source of natural antioxidant.