HPLC Phenolic Profiling of Alcoholic Extracts of Three Abutilon Species

Objectives: This study was aimed to analyzing the phenolic constituents of the 80% methanol extracts of three Abutilon species (A. pannosum, A. hybridum and A. hirtum) (family Malvaceae). Methods: Defatted 80% methanol extracts of A. pannosum, A. hybridum and A. hirtum aerial parts (leaves and stems) were, each, analyzed using high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) technique against external standard calibration at λ 280 and 330 nm. Results: Twelve phenolic acids were tentatively identified from A. pannosum, A. hybridum and A. hirtum representing 9.03, 12.23 and 20.51%, respectively. The major identified phenolic acids peaks were that of protocatechuic acid in A. pannosum (1.75%), ferulic acid in A. hybridum (2.09%) and ellagic acid in A. hirtum (4.0%). On the other hand, 21 flavonoids were tentatively identified from A. pannosum representing (53.78%), in comparison with 20 identifiedfrom A. hybridum (42.12%) and 19 identified from A. hirtum (35.68%). Kaempferol 3-O- [2\\-p < /em>-coumaroyl-β-D-glucopyranoside] was the major identified flavonoid glycoside in A. pannosum and A. hybridum methanolic extracts (13.27 and 5.13%, respectively)while quercitrin was the major flavonoid glycoside identified in A. hirtum (3.21%). The major flavonoid aglycones identified were luteolin (3.68%) in A. pannosum, apigenin (9.46%) in A. hybridum and quercetin (5.85%) in A. hirtum. Conclusion: The present study revealed that the investigated extracts are rich in phenolic contents; A. pannosum has the highest concentration of flavonoids and the least concentration of phenolic acids, where A. hirtum has the highest concentration of phenolic acids, showing promising phenolic content for further study of their isolation, identification as well as evaluation of their biological activity.