Phytochemical screening and antioxidant capacity of the aerial parts of Thymelaea hirsuta L.

To assess antioxidant activities of different aerial parts of Thymelaea hirsuta (T. hirsuta) from west Algeria, and to search for new sources of safe and inexpensive antioxidants. Samples of leaves, stems and flowers from T. hirsuta were tested for total phenolic content, flavonoids content, and evaluation its total antioxidant activity, were done using the spectrophotometric analyses. Results of preliminary phytochemical screening of leaf, flower and stem of T. hirsuta revealed the presence of tannins, alkaloids, steroids, saponins, coumarins, reducteurs compound and anthraquinones. The total phenolics and flavonoids were estimated. The aqueous extracts of the aerial parts of T. hirsuta showed potent in vitro antioxydant activities using various models viz, DPPH scavenging assay, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and ABTS radical scavenging activity. On the basis of the results obtained, T. hirsuta extracts are rich sources of natural antioxidants appears to be an alternative to synthetic antioxidants and this justifies its therapeutic usage.