Three antioxidant diarylheptanoids from Etlingera alba stems from southeast Sulawesi

Etlingera is a genus that has the potential as a medicinal plant. Etlingera alba (Blume) A.D. Poulsen is an Etlingera species discovered recently in Southeast Sulawesi. This research describes the isolation and discovery of secondary matabolites from the methanol extract of the stem of Etlingera alba (Blume) A.D. Poulsen and is activity test as an antioxidant. Compounds were isolated using chromatography techniques. Identification of the molecular structure of secondary metabolites was carried out bu spectroscopic techniques. The antioxidant test was carried out using the 1,1-dipheny1-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method. Three diarylheptanoids: yakuchinone A (1), 7-(4”-hydrozy-3”-methoxypheny-1- phenyl-hept-4-en-3-one (2), and oxyphyllacinol (3) have been isolated from the stems of E. alba. Based on the DPPH test, compound 1 showed very strong antioxidant activity with an IC₅₀ value of 26.62μg/ml, wile compounds 2 and 3 showed strong activity with IC₅₀ va;ies pf 73-72 and 63.2μg/ml respectively.