Determinação da atividade antioxidante e prospecção fitoquímica do extrato etanólico e partições da casca da Schefflera macrocarpa

Abstract

The cerrado is one of the richest Brazilian biomes in biodiversity of fauna and flora. This wide range of species represents an environmental, social and chemical wealth, since the flora is rich in organic compounds that can be used in industry and medicine. It's known that secondary plant metabolism is responsible for synthesizing compounds such as flavonoids, tannins, terpenes and alkaloids to protect themselves and improve their interaction with the environment. These compounds have beneficial activities for humans, such as anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, anesthetic, analgesic and antioxidant action. With this, the study of cerrado plants becomes important to increase the range of cataloged plants as well as natural alternatives for use in medicine and industry in general. The present work aimed to analyze Schefflera macrocarpa, a cerrado plant that can be rich in secondary metabolites. This species was chosen because of the positive results that the plants of the same genus Schefflera obtained. From the ethanolic extract of its bark, the identification of the present compounds was carried out and the antioxidant activity of this extract was determined, in order to determine whether or not the plant has potential for further studies. In phytochemical prospection, the secondary metabolites as flavonoids, terpenes, tannins, saponins and steroids, both in the extract and in the fractions, were identified. The ethyl acetate fraction presented higher levels of total phenols, a result also observed in the content of condensed tannins. Both extracts and bark fractions presented high DPPH radical sequestration capacity with EC50 values lower than 50 pg mL-1, especially the ethyl acetate fraction. Thus, the initial results suggest the Schefflera macrocarpa as a species with great potential for further studies.

The cerrado is one of the richest Brazilian biomes in biodiversity of fauna and flora. This wide range of species represents an environmental, social and chemical wealth, since the flora is rich in organic compounds that can be used in industry and medicine. It's known that secondary plant metabolism is responsible for synthesizing compounds such as flavonoids, tannins, terpenes and alkaloids to protect themselves and improve their interaction with the environment. These compounds have beneficial activities for humans, such as anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, anesthetic, analgesic and antioxidant action. With this, the study of cerrado plants becomes important to increase the range of cataloged plants as well as natural alternatives for use in medicine and industry in general. The present work aimed to analyze Schefflera macrocarpa, a cerrado plant that can be rich in secondary metabolites. This species was chosen because of the positive results that the plants of the same genus Schefflera obtained. From the ethanolic extract of its bark, the identification of the present compounds was carried out and the antioxidant activity of this extract was determined, in order to determine whether or not the plant has potential for further studies. In phytochemical prospection, the secondary metabolites as flavonoids, terpenes, tannins, saponins and steroids, both in the extract and in the fractions, were identified. The ethyl acetate fraction presented higher levels of total phenols, a result also observed in the content of condensed tannins. Both extracts and bark fractions presented high DPPH radical sequestration capacity with EC50 values lower than 50 pg mL-1, especially the ethyl acetate fraction. Thus, the initial results suggest the Schefflera macrocarpa as a species with great potential for further studies.