Total flavonoids content, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of extracts from Mosla chinensis Maxim. cv. Jiangxiangru

•Total flavonoids content of each extract (PEE, EAE, WSBE and WPE) was determined.•Antioxidant activities were compared among four extracts.•Antimicrobial activities of ethyl acetate extract (EAE) were determined.•Three compositions of EAE were identified by HPLC-MS.

Flavonoids from plants always show a wide range of biological activities. In this present study, total flavonoids were first extracted with 60% ethanol from the whole plant of Mosla chinensis Maxim. cv. Jiangxiangru. Then the 60% ethanol extract was concentrated and re-extracted with petroleum ether (PEE), ethyl acetate (EAE) and water-saturated n-butanol (WSBE) successively, and component remaining in the water phase was named WPE. Among them, EAE containing a total flavonoids content of 703.8 ± 5.1 mg RE/g DW, exhibited the strongest antioxidant activities in ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and β-carotene bleaching tests. In addition, EAE also possessed the highest antimicrobial activity against Rhizopus oryzae among seven selected microorganisms, with an inhibition zone diameter of 13.7 ± 2.4 mm at 100 mg/mL. Caffeic acid, quercetin-3-O-glucoside (galactoside) and luteolin-4′,7-dimethyl ether-5-O-xyloside were identified by high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) method. These results illuminated a potential market role for Mosla chinensis Maxim. cv. Jiangxiangru as a functional food ingredient or nutraceutical.