ABSTRACT
Roxburgh fig fruit has many potential bioactive and therapeutic phenolic compounds that have both ethnobotanical and traditional uses. A contemporary approach of optimizing the conditions for extracting these phenolic compounds would provide a way to utilize these wild edible fruits in human nutrition. Hence, this study was proposed to optimize the extracting conditions using a multivariate mathematically fit response surface methodology. The factors such as extraction time, ethanolic concentration, and temperature were selected and analyzed, with the discrete and combined effects on total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and 2,2-diphenyl-1–picryl hydrazyl radical (DPPH) scavenging activity. The study suggested that the fruit polyphenols would be higher in the extraction condition of 40% ethanol with the temperature of 42.50°C for 80 minutes. In this optimized condition, 59.21 ± 5.44 mg gallic acid equivalents/g of phenolic and 127.94 ± 7.35 mg rutin equivalents/g of flavonoid contents with 46.61 ± 0.38% of DPPH radical inhibition were obtained.
