Antioxidant Effect of Eucommin

To provide theoretical evidences for developing novel natural antioxidants,eucommin and high-purity chlorogenic acid were assessed for their antioxidant effects by hydroxyl,superoxide anion and DPPH free radical assays with vitamin C as a positive control. Curves of free radical scavenging ratio versus concentration were plotted for each of these three compounds. As a result,eucommin had different scavenging effects against different radicals and the best ability to scavenge superoxide anion radicals,followed by DPPH and hydroxyl radicals,with corresponding maximum scavenging ratios of 95.85%,75.31% and 31.10%. Therefore,eucommin is a potential strong antioxidant.