Phytochemical Analysis, Antioxidant and Antifungal Activity of Essential oil and Extracts of Alpinia malaccensis (Burm.f.) Roscoe flowers

Abstract The present study describes chemical composition, phytochemicals, antifungal activities, antioxidant assays and total phenolic content of essential oil and varied polarity solvent extract from flowers of Alpinia malaccensis (Burm.f.). Total 27 components were identified in essential oil by GC-MS with terpinen-4-ol (28.6%) and α- terpineol (12.8%) as the main constituent. The essential oil was found to have maximal levels of phenolic content (64.60 μg/mL) as compared to the other extracts. The antioxidant assay evaluated in extracts and essential oil by different methods revealed good-to-moderate antioxidant potential with different IC50 values viz. (188.02 -250.25 μg/mL) in Fe3+ reducing power, (153.15-201.59 μg/mL) in Fe2+ metal-chelating ability, (130.39-181.12 μg/mL) in DPPH, (88.29-187.32 μg/mL) in OH radical, (79.04-156.79 μg/mL), in NO radical and (138.72-233.00 μg/mL) in superoxide anion scavenging activities, respectively. The methanolic extract display remarkable fungicidal activity against the tested pathogens followed by dichloromethane extract, essential oil, hexane extract and petroleum ether extract respectively, with MIC values ranging from 31.25 to 500 μg/mL. Based on results, it can be inferred that the flower of A. malaccensis if explored further for its medicinal properties, might be a good source to develop a safe and sustainable natural food preservative.