Phytochemical Screening and Anti–Oxidant Profiling of Dragon Fruit

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the phytochemical constituents and antioxidant potential of Hylocereus undatus (dragon fruit) fruit pulp extracts using different solvents such as aqueous, chloroform, and hexane. Initially, the yield of solvent extracts was determined. Among the different solvents used, the aqueous extract showed the highest yield (5 g) from 50 g of dried fruit pulp powder, followed by chloroform extract (2.5g) and hexane extract (1.5g). The aqueous and chloroform extracts appeared as dark brown coloured paste, whereas the hexane extract showed a light brown coloured paste. Preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of various secondary metabolites in the fruit pulp extracts. The aqueous extract showed the presence of carbohydrates, tannins, saponins, anthocyanins, quinones, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids, triterpenoids, phenols, acids, and steroids. The chloroform extract contained carbohydrates, saponins, alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, triterpenoids, phenols, and coumarins, while the hexane extract exhibited carbohydrates, saponins, anthocyanins, quinones, phenols, and acids. These phytochemicals are known to possess significant biological and antioxidant properties. The antioxidant potential of H. undatus fruit pulp extracts was evaluated using the DPPH radical scavenging assay. The results demonstrated that the percentage inhibition of DPPH increased with increasing concentration of extracts. Among the extracts, the aqueous extract exhibited stronger antioxidant activity compared to chloroform and hexane extracts, although the activity was lower than that of the standard L-ascorbic acid. At the highest concentration (200 µg/ml), the percentage inhibition observed was 63.49% for aqueous extract, 43.01% for chloroform extract, and 23.34% for hexane extract, whereas the standard L-ascorbic acid showed 77.45% inhibition.