Methanol soluble extractives of Pinus merkusii bark and its antioxidant activity

The major function of bark in trees is to protect the living tissues. This is due to the chemical extractives in the bark such as polyphenols and terpenoids. In Indonesia, the bark of Pinus merkusii is of high economic value due to its use in the production of wood and oleoresins. Also, the presence of polyphenols in its bark has the potential of being used as antioxidant agents. Based on this, the aim of this study was to investigate antioxidant activity from the methanol extract of P. merkusii bark. This methanol extract of P. merkusii was subjected to gas chromatography mass spectrometric (GC-MS) method and antioxidant activity assay using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method. The GC-MS analysis showed that the extract sample contained phenolics and sugars as minor compounds with fatty acids and alcohols as major components. The antioxidant activity (IC50) of the sample was 1452.8 208 μg/mL, which could be as a result of the presence of phenolic compounds, fatty acids and alcohols, as well as steroids and alkaloid in it. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.