TITLE:
Phytochemicals Screening, Phenolic Estimation and Evaluation for Anti-Oxidant, Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-Microbial Activities of Sequentially Soxhlet Extracted Coconut Testa
AUTHORS:
Sashi Bhusan Ojha, Shaktirekha Roy, Soumya Das, Gunanidhi Dhangadamajhi
KEYWORDS:
Coconut Testa, Phytochemicals, Anti-Oxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, Anti-Microbial, Soxhlet Extraction
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.10 No.8,
August
13,
2019
ABSTRACT: Background: In many coconut industries, the outer layer of thin brown skin of
coconut kernel known as testa is peeled out as a byproduct. Despite the testa is rich in fat and
plenty of polyphenolic compounds, it has been underutilized either as animal
feed, serving as raw materials for bio-diesel production or discarded directly.
Anticipating coconut testa (CT) as a natural source of multiple
phyto-chemicals, its exploitation for the pharmacological activity or utilization as value
added product is required which may reduce the disposal costs as well. Methods: Secondary metabolites from CT were extracted sequentially with different
organic solvents based on polarity in the soxhlet apparatus followed by extraction with
sterilized water. The crude dried extracts thus prepared were evaluated for
qualitative screening of phytochemicals and quantitative estimation of total phenols,
flavonoids and tannin content. Moreover, the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and
anti-microbial activities were also investigated. Results: Phytochemicals screening revealed the presence
of polyphenolic compounds in methanolic fraction including phenols (822.60 ± 16.36
mg/g), flavonoids (103.30 ± 9.78 mg/g) and tannin (663.50 ± 19.26 mg/g),
whereas non-phenolic compounds were present in other fractions. While
methanolic fraction showed invariably the highest anti-oxidant activity in
multiple assay methods, non-phenolic compounds in aqueous and chloroform
fractions exhibited high anti-inflammatory activity. Antimicrobial activity was
observed by both phenolic and non-phenolic compounds. Conclusion: The
findings of the study reveal that CT is a rich source of various polyphenolic
and non-phenolic natural antioxidants, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial
compounds. These findings are promising and form the basis to identify the number
of active components and their characterization.