The antioxidant properties of the Philippine medicinal plants Cassia sophera Linn., Derris elliptica Benth, Ficus minahassea Tesym. and De Vr., Leea aculeata Blume and Leucosyke capitellata Wedd

The search for natural antioxidants has received much attention and efforts have been made to identify and validate plant sources of these natural products. In this study, the antioxidant activities of the decoction, crude ethanol and 50:50 ethanol-water extracts from the leaves of Cassia sophera Linn., Derris elliptica Benth, Ficus minahassea Tesym. & De Vr., Leea aculeata Blume and Leucosyke capitellata Wedd were determined. The results obtained from the in vitro antioxidant screening of the plant leaf extracts using 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging method, total phenolic contents by Folin-Ciocalteu method and phosphomolybdenum method provide good correlation coefficient (r = 0.83288). The highly ranked plant species in all methods used are from the decoction, crude ethanol and 50:50 ethanol-water extracts of the plant L. capitellata and L. aculeate with interestingly comparable antioxidant profiles with those of the reference standards ascorbic acid and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). Results indicate that natural antioxidants and free radical scavengers can be obtained from these species.