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Abstract
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Rhus coriaria Linn (Anacardiacea), commonly known as sumac, is an important crop widely used in iran as a food spice, and also in folk medicine, due to its health-promoting properties. Sumac, has been used as a spice, condiment, appetizer, and as a souring agent for centuries. A broad range of nutritionally and medicinally significant phytochemical components have been identified from various parts of sumac as tannins, flavonoids, anthocyanins, organic acids, flavones, proteins, fiber, volatile oils, nitrates and nitrites. The plants also possesses minerals which are beneficial in the treatment of different disorders and contribute to various biological processes. In traditional system of medicine, this plant has been used in the treatment of diarrhea, dysentery, ulcer, haemorrhoids, hemorrhage, wound healing, hematemesis, hemoptysis, leucorrhea, sore ophthalmia, conjunctivitis, dieresis, animal bites, poison, pain, and liver disease.
Antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds of sumac extracts were investigated. Sumac was extracted in methanol and subjected to solvent–solvent partitioning to yield two fractions as ethyl acetate and aqueous. Methanol extract was further fractioned over Sephadex LH-20 column. Antioxidant activity of extracts and fractions were screened using ferric thiocyanate and DPPH radical scavenging methods. Phenolic composition of active fraction(s) was determined by HPLC–MS systems. Those fractions which exhibited strong antioxidant activity were rich in anthocyanins and hydrolysable tannins. While gallic acid was the main phenolic acid in the extracts, anthocyanin fraction contained cyanidin, peonidin, pelargonidin, petunidin, and delphinidin glucosides and coumarates. Pentagalloyl glucose was abundant in the hydrolysable tannin fraction. Effective scavenging concentration (EC50) on DPPH radical was 0.70 μg/mL both in ethyl acetate and tannin fractions, and 5.33 μg/mL in anthocyanin rich fraction. Same extracts and fractions showed moderate
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