Antioxidant activity of metabolites from Coleonema album (Rutaceae)

Coleonema album, a member of the South African 'Fynbos' biome, was evaluated for its antioxidant and free radical scavenging activity. Ethanol- and acetone-based extracts from plant material obtained from two different geographical areas were analysed. A bioassay-guided fractionation methodology was followed for screening of active compounds. The 1,1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)-TLC method revealed the presence of a number of antioxidants which were quantified by the DPPH-spectrophotometric assay and the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay. The C. album extracts possessed significant in vitro antioxidant activity, a large portion of which appeared to be contributed by the phenolic compounds. In contrast, the reducing power of the extracts could not be correlated with the observed antioxidant activity. Identification and structural information of the active components were obtained by a combination of preparative TLC and LC-MS which revealed the presence of coumarin aglycones and glycosides. The results of this study indicate that C. album contains strong antioxidants that warrant further investigation into the relationship between the structure and activity of the active coumarin metabolites.