DOI: 10.36347/sajp

Pages: 375-380

Carob tree (Ceratoniasiliqua) is widely cultivated in the Mediterranean area and is considered to be an important component of vegetation for economic and environmental reasons. The possibility of utilizing carob podsas a source of polyphenol antioxidants was examined by performing extractions with various solvent systems, in order to evaluate and optimize the conditions for the recovery of polyphenols and proanthocyanidins., such as water, ethanol, acetone and ethyl acetate have been used for the extraction of phenolics from plant materials, often with different proportions of water. Maximum quantities of polyphenol components were found in 10 % aqueous ethanol, as evaluated by measuring total polyphenol and maximum content of proanthocyanidins was found in 70% aqueous acetone. By contrast, ethyl acetate was inefficient in extracting polyphenols. The assessment of the antioxidant potency of carob pod extracts employing DPPH assay showed that carobs contain polyphenols with appreciable radical scavenging properties. A simple method for the separation of proanthocyanidins from other polyphenols was accomplished by sequential liquid extraction using pure ethanol and 70% aqueous acetone, this method needs further procedures for the purification of separated proanthocyanidins.