Determination of photochemical compounds and antioxidant activity in endemic Bellevalia sasonii plant

In this study, antioxidant activity capacities of bulb, stem, leaf and flower parts of endemic Bellevalia sasonii species and the presence of 53 phytochemical compounds were investigated by LC-MS/MS method. After determining the total phenolic amounts of the extracts as equivalent to gallic acid and the total flavonoid amounts to quercetin, their antioxidant activities were determined using DPPH free radical removal, ABTS cation radical removal and CUPRAC (Cu⁺² Ion Reducing Capacity) methods. In Bellevalia sasonii, the highest phenolic content was in the bulb extract (117.28±0.135 µg GAEs/mg extract), the lowest phenolic content was in the stem extract (45.11±0.089 µg GAEs/mg extract); the highest flavonoid content was found in the leaf extract (79.44±0.081 µg QEs/mg extract), the lowest flavonoid content was found in the stem extract (22.77±0.054 µg QEs/mg extract). When the antioxidant capacity studies are examined, in the DPPH method, AA ˃ BHA ˃ flower ˃ bulb ˃ leaf ˃ stem ˃ BHT; In the CUPRAC method, BHT ˃ AA ˃ flower ˃ leaf ˃ bulb ˃ BHA ˃ stem; In ABTS method, it was observed that AA ˃ BHT ˃ flower ˃ bulb ˃ leaf ˃ BHA ˃ stem. When the results were evaluated in general, it was observed that the flower part generally showed higher activity, the stem part showed lower activity than the other organ parts, and also the parts outside the stem showed higher antioxidant activity than BHA, which was used as a positive control. While 27 of the 53 phytochemicals used as standard were not seen in any extract, 26 of them were seen in at least one extract, and 15 of them were seen in all parts of the plant (bulb, stem, leaf, flower). When we evaluated the plant organs separately, 19 of the 53 phytochemicals were seen in the bulb, 19 in the stem, 22 in the leaf and 21 in the flower. As a result of LC-MS/MS analysis, such as fumaric acid in leaves (5267 µg/g extract), caffeic acid in bulbs (1948 µg/g extract), cosmosinin in flowers (2374 µg/g extract) and quinic acid (1085 µg/g extract) metabolites have been found to show good values. Keywords: Antioxidant activity, Bellevalia sasonii, LC-MS/MS, phytochemical compounds