Effect of Extraction Techniques on Phenolic Content, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activity of Bauhinia purpurea: HPTLC Determination of Antioxidants

Bauhinia purpurea leaf was extracted by Soxhlet, ultrasonication and maceration extraction methods using ethanol (99.5%, v/v) to obtain Soxhlet (SBE), ultrasonicated (UBE) and macerated (MBE) B. purpurea leaf extract. The effects of different extracting methods on the polyphenolic content and antioxidant activities using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS), ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were investigated. Disc diffusion and broth dilution methods were also carried out to find the antibacterial activity of these extracts. Findings of this study showed that UBE possessed significant (P<0.05) polyphenolic constituents followed by MBE and SBE. All the extracts exhibited good DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging as well as potential reducing ability in TAC and FRAP methods. UBE possessed significant (P<0.05) radical scavenging activity and reducing ability followed by MBE and SBE. Even the results of antibacterial activity were similar to antioxidant activity, with UBE inhibiting most of the bacteria followed by MBE and SBE. All the extracts were subjected to thin layer chromatography (TLC) bioautography followed by high-performance TLC densitometric determination, and the results show that extraction using ultrasonication method yields the highest amount of antioxidant compounds among the three methods mentioned earlier. This study confirms ultrasonic extraction to be an ideal, simple and rapid method to obtain antioxidant-as well as antibacterial-enriched B. purpurea leaf extract. The HPTLC fingerprint profile can be used as a reference data for the standardisation of B. purpurea leaf.