Research Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry

To evaluate the in-vitro free radical scavenging activity of flowers of Tagetes erecta, ethanolic and chloroform extracts of flowers of Tagetes erecta were prepared with successive extraction in soxhlet apparatus. Each extract was selected to study the antioxidant activity by iron Chelation method and hydrogen peroxide scavenging method. The phytochemical studies were also carried out for both the extracts to evaluate the presence of different phytochemical constituents. The percentage of iron Chelating activity for Ethanolic and Chloroform Extract were found to be 53.71±14.51% and 55.77±9.67% respectively. The percentage of hydrogen peroxide scavenging for Ethanolic and Chloroform extracts of were found 9.51±2.49% and 13.03±7% respectively. The comparison was done with the standard Ascorbic acid. The present study revealed that both the extracts effectively show their ability to scavenge the free radicals as well as to bind metal ions needed for catalysis of reactive oxygen generation.