Microwave-Assisted Efficient Extraction of Different Parts of Hippophae rhamnoides for the Comparative Evaluation of Antioxidant Activity and Quantification of Its Phenolic Constituents by Reverse-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC)

The outcome of different extraction procedures (microwave, ultrasound, Soxhlet, and maceration) on the antioxidant activity of seeds, leaves, pulp, and fruits of Hippophae rhamnoides (sea buckthorn or SBT) was investigated by two different bioassays: 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) and 2,2′-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assays. The SBT extracts were found to possess strong antioxidant activity measured in terms of TEAC (2.03–182.13 and 6.97–282.75 mg/g) with ABTS and DPPH assays, respectively. In general, the antioxidant capacity of microwave-assisted extracts was found to be significantly higher than those obtained by ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) and maceration while being slightly higher than Soxhlet extracts. Further, microwave extracts of seeds were found to possess maximum antioxidant capacity followed by leaves, fruits, and pulp. Also, the chemical composition of extracts, studied in terms of the total phenolic content, was found to be in the range of 1.9–23.5 mg/g Gallic acid equivalent (GAE), which indicates a strong correlation between antioxidant activity and phenolic content present in the SBT. In addition, some of its bioactive phenolic constituents, such as rutin (1), quercetin-3-O-galactoside (2), quercetin (3), myricetin (4), kaempferol (5), and isorhamnetin (6), were also quantified in different extracts by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC).