Antioxidant activity of microwave-assisted extract of longan (Dimocarpus Longan Lour.) peel

The longan (Dimocarpus Longan Lour.) peel was extracted with 95% ethanol employing microwave-assisted extraction and Soxhlet extraction method, the total phenolic content of microwave-assisted extract of Langan peel (MEL) and Soxhlet extract of Langan peel (SEL) reached 96.78 mg/g and 90.35 mg/g dry weight, respectively, expressed as pyrocatechol equivalents, which were quantified using Folin–Ciocalteu reagent. Subsequently, antioxidant properties of two extracts were investigated employing various established systems in vitro including 2,2′-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay, hydroxyl radical scavenging assay using a new resonance scattering (RS) method, reducing power and total antioxidant capacity. MEL and SEL showed excellent antioxidant in all test systems compared to synthetic antioxidant 2,6-di-ter-butyl-4-methylphenol (BHT) and the antioxidant activities of MEL were all superior to those of SEL. Furthermore, the suitability of MEL and SEL as substitute of BHT were determined in peanut oil, and the decrease of lipid oxidation were monitored using thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) assay. MEL and SEL treatment significantly (P < 0.05) reduced lipid oxidation in peanut oil compared to the control. No significant differences ( P = 0.05 ) in lipid oxidation were detected between MEL, SEL and BHT samples of peanut oil.