Science Heritage Journal | Galeri Warisan Sains (GWS)

Oenanthe javanica or water dropwort, is a medicinal plant that exhibits a great potential for antioxidant activity and is capable of scavenging free radical ions associated with various diseases. Although O. javanica extracts have shown antioxidant properties, there is a gap in research concerning the selection of suitable solvents for extracting antioxidant compounds from this plant. Therefore, this review aims to identify the most effective solvent for the preparation of antioxidant-rich O. javanica extracts. Based on the data obtained from online articles and journals through several academic databases, our findings indicate that various solvents give notable outcomes on the O. javanica extracts in terms of extract yield, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity. Ethanol, methanol and water are among the frequently solvents utilised for O. javanica extraction. Hot water extract exhibited the highest extraction yield from O. javanica. Meanwhile, 50% methanol extract demonstrate the highest TPC with 621 ± 63 mg GAE/100 g using the Folin-Ciocalteu method. On the other hand, methanol extracts of O. javanica produced the highest antioxidant potential with 97.09% of DPPH scavenging activity with the IC50 of 30μg/ml. It can be noted that phenolic compounds including phenolic acids and flavonoids as well as carotenoids are among the compounds that contributed to the antioxidant activity of O. javanica extracts This review hopes to serve as a valuable resource for researchers engaged in solvent-based extraction and phenolic content analysis from Oenanthe javanica, as well as offering insights that can guide future investigations in optimizing the extraction of valuable antioxidant compounds from this plant.