Phytochemical and Antioxidant Profiling of Different Solvent Extractions of Calabash (Crescentia cujete L.)

Crescentia cujete L., a tropical tree, is often used in traditional medicine since ancient times. All parts of the plant seem to have variety of functionalities and exhibit biological activities. The fruit, particularly the pulp, has been mostly used for medicinal purposes. This study aimed to provide phytochemical profiling of the constituents present in the fruit pulp from the extraction using a variety of organic solvents and by performing household preparation like decoction of the pulp. A gas chromatograph-electron ionization - mass spectrometer (GC-EI-MS) was used for the analyses of the extracts. A total of 18 identified compounds were revealed by the GC-EI-MS analyses of all the prepared fruit extracts of C. cujete L. The following are prominent identified compounds viz. benzoic acid, phenol, 2,2′-methylenebis[6-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-methyl-, hexadecanoic acid, 2-[(1-oxododecyl)oxy]-1,3-propanediyl ester, 4H-pyran-4-one, 2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, α-D-glucopyranoside, O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1.fwdarw.3)-β-D-fructofuranosyl, D-fructose, diethyl mercaptal, pentaacetate, 2-propenoic acid, 3-phenyl-, dodecanoic acid, oleic acid, dodecanoic acid, 1,2,3-propanetriyl ester, octadecanoic acid, 3-[(1-oxododecyl)oxy]-1,2-propanediyl ester, 2,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-3(2H)-furanone, ascaridole epoxide, phenol, 2,4-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-, n-hexadecanoic acid, hexadecanoic acid, methyl ester and methyl salicylate. An antioxidant assay using a 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl [DPPH] protocol was performed on boiled and raw C. cujete fruit with ascorbic acid as positive control. Results verified that the boiled sample had higher antioxidant activity than the raw fruit. The boiled preparation yielded roughly 80% DPPH % inhibition or around 1000 mg of vitamin C per 100 g serving of the pulp. This is the first comprehensive work targeting constituents in C. cujete from a range of relatively polar to non-polar solvent systems as well as the antioxidant properties of the selected preparations.