EVALUATION OF ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS PRESENT IN LIPPIA SIDOIDES CHAM LEAVES
Several chemical, pharmacological and clinical studies have enabled phytochemical area developed a many drugs used today, such as aspirin, digitoxin, morphine, quinine and pilocarpine. In addition, this area has enriched and expanded numerous species of plants with medicinal potential, resulting in the isolation of substances with diverse biological activities that serve as prototypes for future drugs. This study aims to explore the potential of the species Lippia sidoides, quantifying the content of phenolic compounds from the methanol extract of the leaves, as well as evaluating the antioxidant activity. For chemical research, we used the spectrophotometric method of Folin-Ciocalteau using gallic acid as standard, which allowed determining a level of 126.89 ± 23.08 mg of gallic acid/g extract for total phenolic compounds by the Folin-Ciocalteau’ methods, a value within the patterns found in the literature. When evaluated the antioxidant activity by methods of inhibiting free radical DPPH (2,2- diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), oxidation of linoleic β-carotene/linoleic acid system and reducing power, the results showed 90% inhibition for the first two methods and a good ability to donate electron to the latter method. This results show the potential that this plant has as a source of antioxidant compounds and the need to further explore the phytochemical studies on this species.