Industrial Crops and Products ,Volume 77, 23 December 2015, Pages 409–414

Zahra Aghaei Jeshvaghani^a,Mehdi Rahimmalek^b,Majid Talebi^a,Sayed Amir Hossein Goli^c

abstract

In the present study, total phenolic content and the antioxidant activity of methanolic compoundsb extracted from the aerial parts of seven Salvia species (S. virgata, S. nemorosa, S. officinalis, S. sclarea, S. persica, S. reuterana and S. cereal) sampled in Iran were investigated. Total phenolic content and the antioxidant activity of S. persica and S. cereal were reported for the first time. The antioxidant activity of the samples was determined by three spectrophotometric methods, namely, DPPH, reduction of power and  _-carotene/linoleic acid. Total phenolic content ranged from 33.83 to 114 mg Tannic acid/g DW. In both DPPH and reduction of power assays, the highest and lowest antioxidant activity was obtained for S. virgata (IC50 = 198 _g/ml) and S. persica (IC50 = 1810  _g/ml), respectively, while in  _-carotene/linoleic acid system, S. persica and S. virgata species had the highest antioxidant activity, followed by S. officinalis. The analysis showed that there were no significant correlations between antioxidant activities and total phenolic content. Cluster analysis classified the species based on their phenolics and different antioxidant activity model systems. In all clusters, S. nemorosa and S. reuterana were put in one group and S. virgata and S. officinalis were classified in another group. Finally, the results of this study introduced the Salvia species as potential natural antioxidants with appreciable antioxidant activity.