Antioxidant activity of hopeaphenol isolated from Shorea roxburghii stem bark extract

Hopeaphenol is naturally occurring plant polyphenol composed of resveratrol units. We examined the antioxidant activity of hopeaphenol using various in vitro assays, including 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging, superoxide anion radical, hydrogen peroxide scavenging and ferric reducing power. Hopeaphenol showed 63.76% of the activity of DPPH, 64.48% of superoxide anion and 54.64% of hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity at a concentration of 100 μg/mL. In addition, hopeaphenol showed effective ferric reducing power. Those antioxidant activities were compared to that of quercetin. The study shows that hopeaphenol is an effective natural antioxidant component that could be used as food preservative or nutraceutical.