Identification, Quantification and Antioxidant Activity of Hydro-alcoholic Extract of Artemisia campestris from Algeria

INTRODUCTION: The objective of the present work was to contribute to the identification of the major phenolic compounds in the hydroalcoholic extract of Artemisia campestrisHPLC-DAD coupled with ESI-MS. In addition, HPLC-DAD-EC quantification of phenolic, flavonoid contents and hydroxycinnamic acid was carried out.Finally, the antioxidant capacity of the extract was also evaluated using ORAC assay.
METHODS: Liquid chromatography with diode array, and electrochemical detection
The High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) system used was a Thermo Finnigan (Surveyor, San Jose, CA, USA),equipped with an autosampler, pump, photodiode-array detector (PDA) and electrochemical detector (ED).Chromatographic separation of compounds was carried out on a Lichrocart RP-18 column (250 x 4 mm, particle size 5 µm, Merck). The electrochemical detector (ED) Dionex® performed signal measurements by integratedvoltammetry at potentialsbetween -1.0 v and 1.0 v with a scan time of 1.00s.


RESULTS: The HPLC method employed for the separation of phenolic components in the hydro-alcoholic extract of A. Campestris revealed a good separation ofthe majority of the compounds.Chromatograms at 280 nm are widely used to study phenolic compounds because absorption at thiswavelengthissuitable to detect a large number of such compounds. The maximum absorption wavelengths (λ max), and parent, aglycone, and fragment ion masses of the components detected in the aqueous extract of A. campestris are shown in Table 2, where the compounds are numbered according to their retention times (Rt) in the obtained chromatograms.


DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: In the current work, 11 phenolic compounds in the hydro-alcoholic extract of A. campestris were tentatively identified using HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS technique. The identified compounds contained phenolic acid derivatives and flavonoids. Moreover, the hydro-alcoholic extract showed a noticeable antioxidant potential; this high activity may be due to the presence of phenolic compounds. In conclusion, A. campestris aerial parts are considered a promising source of naturally occurring antioxidant agents.