Insight into solvent effects on phenolic content and antioxidant activity of bamboo leaves extracts by HPLC analysis

To elucidate the effects of solvents on phenolic content and antioxidant activity of bamboo leaves extracts, the contents of seven common phenolic compounds in the extracts were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and their influences on the antioxidant activity were investigated by correlation analysis. The results indicated that total phenolic compounds, total flavonoids compounds and total phenolic acids of bamboo leaves extracts were mainly affected by neochlorogenic acid and isoorientin in both methanol and ethanol series, and solvent of high organic solvent or water was beneficial for the extraction of flavonoids and phenolic acids, respectively. Isoorientin showed higher correlation with the antioxidant activity of bamboo leaves extracts than other flavonoids in both methanol and ethanol series, whereas neochlorogenic acid and chlorogenic acid displayed higher correlations with the antioxidant activity than other phenolic acids in methanol and ethanol series, respectively. The current observation implied that the effects of solvents on the phenolic content and antioxidant activity of plant extracts may result from the corresponding changes of high-content phenolic components; and the combination of HPLC analysis and correlation analysis may be helpful to elucidate the effects of different extraction conditions on the phenolic composition and activity of plant extracts.