Caffeic acid derivatives, total phenols, antioxidant and antimutagenic activities of Echinacea purpurea flower extracts

This study evaluated the effects of ethanol concentration and extraction temperature on the quality of extracts obtained from freeze-dried Echinacea purpurea flowers. The antioxidant and antimutagenic effects of flower extract were also examined. The optimal extraction conditions for freeze-dried flowers were 50% aqueous ethanol and 65 °C extraction temperature, with extraction yield of 37.4%. The contents of total phenols, caffeic acid derivatives, and cichoric acid in freeze-dried extracts were 473.34 mg chlorogenic acid equivalents/g, 302.20 mg/g and 217.61 mg/g, respectively. The 50% ethanolic flower extract did not show toxicity and mutagenicity toward Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100 with or without S9 mix. The ethanolic extract at 0.25–5 mg/plate exhibits a dose-dependent inhibitory effect against the mutagenicity of 2-aminoanthracene. Thus, freeze-dried E. purpurea flower ethanolic extract exhibits good antioxidant and antimutaginic activities.