Antioxidant activity of cloves (syzygium aromaticum) as a medicine potential / Nurul Najwa Hisham

Medicinal plants are gaining popularity due to the effectiveness, low cost, and lack of side effects associated with drugs derived from them. It has been used to treat a variety of diseases because they have potential pharmacological activities such as antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. Clove (Syzygium aromaticum (L.) (Family Myrtaceae) is a vital herb in traditional medicine, with a wide range of biological activity. Clove phytochemical constituents include a wide range of chemical compounds including phenolics and hydrocarbon compounds. The therapeutic value of a medicinal plant is determined by phytoconstituents, either individually or in combination. Some of the important phytochemicals with diverse biological activities are alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolics, tannins, saponins, steroids, glycosides and terpenes. The identification of phytochemicals can predict a plant's pharmacological activity. This study provides an overview and details of S. aromaticum phytochemical and antioxidant activity. The results obtained for the phytochemical screening of the cloves is the presence of alkaloids that being detected with the presence of yellow precipitate. The presence of orange colour indicates the presence of flavonoids in cloves sample and the presence of persistent frothing indicates the presence of saponins. Antioxidant activity of the cloves has been investigated with IC50 value of standard ascorbic acid is 10.00 mg/mL meanwhile IC50 value of methanolic cloves sample is 0.65 mg/mL.