Profile of Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Activities of Different Solvent Extracts of Cumin Seeds

The effects of extraction solvents (methanol, ethanol, acetone, ethyl-acetate and n-hexane) on the content of phytochemicals including total polyphenols, flavonoids and condensed tannins, as well as antioxidant activities of cumin seeds were investigated. The results showed that, the acetone extract had the highest total polyphenols, flavonoids and condensed tannins content, and it exhibited stronger antioxidant activities and protective effect of plasmid DNA damage, followed by methanol and ethanol extracts. N-hexane extract is the lowest. Correlation analysis revealed that the content of phytochemicals was well correlated with antioxidant activities of extracts from cumin seeds, which indicates that different solvents had a great influence on the level of total polyphenols, anthocyanins and antioxidant activities of extracts from cumin seeds. Therefore, selective extraction from cumin seeds, by an appropriate solvent, is important for obtaining fractions with high antioxidant activity, which will be useful for the developing and application of cumin seeds.