Phytochemical and bioactivity evaluation of secondary metabolites and essential oils of Sedum rubens growing wild in Jordan

Abstract

Sedum rubens L. (Crassulaceae family) is an interesting succulent medicinal plant that has never been investigated for its phytochemical constituents. Thus, the current study was designed to unveil its chemical constituents and bioactivity potentials. In the current study, the total phenol content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and DPPH radical scavenging properties of the hydroalcoholic (HA) and water extracts (W) were determined. Moreover, the presence of selected phenolic acids (gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid) and flavonoids (rutin, quercetin, hesperidin) was determined by HPLC-PDA. In addition, hydro-distilled essential oil (HDEO) composition of the plant at the pre-flowering (PF) and full-flowering (FF) stages was determined by GC/MS and GC/FID techniques. Results revealed that the FF hydroalcoholic extract had the highest TPC (136.9 mg gallic acid/g extract), TFC (234.7 mg quercetin/g extract) and DPPH• radical scavenging activity (7.10 × 10-2 ± 1.0 × 10-3 mg/mL). This extract was rich in gallic acid and caffeic acids (366, 243 mg/Kg dry plant, respectively). The study resulted in reporting four known compounds including α- & β-amyrin acetates, β-sitosterol and β-sitosterol glycoside for the first time from the plant. The HDEO at the PF and FF stages were dominated by oxygenated sesquiterpenes (21.92%) and aliphatic hydrocarbons (45.71%).

Keywords

• Sedum rubens
• Secondary metabolites
• TPC
• TFC
• Antioxidant activity
• HPLC-PDA