PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND IN-VITRO ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY ANALYSIS IN LEAF EXTRACT OF WATER APPLE [SYZYGIUM AQUEUM (BURM. F) ALSTON]

Syzygium aqueum is a well-known edible fruit-bearing plant species. The tribal people in Malaysia used different parts of the plant to cure various ailments. The previous studies on phytochemical evaluation of S. aqueum are very limited. The present study aims to conduct a detailed investigation of phytochemicals present in the leaves of S. aqueum and also its potential use as an effective antioxidant agent. In this study, the methanolic leaf extract of S. aqueum was tested to determine its chemical composition and its antioxidant activity. The result of the preliminary phytochemical investigation in leaf extract of S. aqueum revealed the presence of several bioactive secondary metabolites such as phenolic compounds, flavonoids, tannins, steroids, and terpenoids. Quantification results showed that the total phenol was found to be 62.89±1.48% GAE and the flavonoid content was 15.05±0.36% QE. Further analysis of the antioxidant activity in leaf extract of S. aqueum using different antioxidant assays proved that the extract effectively scavenging diverse types of free radicals. In different antioxidant assays, the leaf extract showed different IC₅₀ values viz., an IC₅₀ of 83.53 µg/mL in 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl- hydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging assay, an IC ₅₀ of 721.59 µg/mL in Hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging assay, an IC₅₀ of 1338.73 µg/mL in Superoxide radical scavenging assay, an IC₅₀ of 3268.99 µg/mL in Nitric oxide radical scavenging activity, an IC₅₀ of 1441.0 µg/mL in Hydroxyl radical scavenging assay, an IC₅₀ of 2802.521 µg/mL in ABTS scavenging assay.