Biological activities of phenolic compounds extracted from Amaranthaceae plants and their LC/ESI-MS/MS profiling

In the present study quantification of phenolic components of Achyranthes aspera and Aerva javanica leaves was made using LC-ESI-MS/MS. Antioxidant and antimutagenic activities of both plant leaves' extracts probably associated with their phenolic constituents were also monitored. Extracts were prepared using different concentrations of aqueous and acidified methanol. Extract yields and total phenols varied 5.4-58.8% (w/w) and 111.2 ± 1.2 to 325.5 ± 2.9 mg g−1 of extract, respectively. Achyranthes aspera having lesser cytotoxicity (2.95 ± 0.14% at 0.5 mg mL−1) than that of Aerva javanica (12.2 ± 0.85% at 0.5 mg mL−1) provided relatively good protection against oxidative damage to pBR322 DNA plasmid. LC-ESI-MS/MS profiling exposed sixteen phenolics including kaempferol, catechin, syringic, quinic, sinapic, caffeic, chlorogenic acids in Achyranthes aspera; and six compounds including p-coumaric, gallic acid, myricetin in Aerva javanica. Aside from quinic acid, the two species did not share any phenolic compound.