antioxidant activity of methanolic leaf extract of moringa peregrina (forssk.) fiori.

natural antioxidants have an important role in the prevention of many age-related diseases and promotion of health. among natural antioxidants from plants, flavonoids and other phenolic compounds are potent antioxidants and chelating agents. moringa peregrina (forssk.) fiori (moringaceae) is a small desert tree distributed from tropical africa to east india. moringa tree is also growing in south-east of iran. the antioxidant activity of m. peregrina   methanolic leaf extract on 2,2-diphenyl-1-pycrylhydrazyl and superoxide anion radicals was determined in in vitro experiments. it exhibited the scavenging activity on dpph and superoxide anion radicals with ic 50 of 8.06 ± 0.29 μg/ml and 47.93 ± 1.33 μg/ml, respectively. moreover, total phenolic content of the leaf extract was determined and using 1 hnmr, mass and spectroscopic methods, the structure of the isolated flavonoid glycoside, rutin, as one of the compounds responsible for reported antioxidant activities was identified.