Antioxidant activities of mangrove Rhizophora apiculata bark extracts

Depolymerisation of mangrove Rhizophora apiculata bark extracts in the presence of phloroglucinol nucleophiles in ethanol was carried out. The flavan-3-ols and their phloroglucinol adducts were separated using reversed phase liquid chromatography (HPLC). The HPLC analysis of mangrove R. apiculata showed that catechin was the most common component of the flavanoid monomers. The antioxidant activities of these mangrove tannins were evaluated and compared with several commercial tannins by using reducing power, DPPH and ABTS assays with butylated hydroxytoluene, BHT and l-(+)-ascorbic acid as standards. All tannins had reducing power and percentage scavenging activities similar to the (+)-catechin and l-(+)-ascorbic acid standards. In the DPPH assay, >90% of the maximum scavenging activity was attained at 30 μg ml−1. Mangrove tannins had stronger antioxidant activity than the BHT standard in the DPPH assay. The results of the ABTS assay were correlated with the DPPH assay. Scavenging activity in the ABTS assay increased as the tannin concentration increased, up to a plateau at 50 μg ml−1.