The variation of antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of some plants commonly used as home remedies were screened on the basis of air drying time of (short term and long term air) the dried plant Ocimum sanctum (leaf), Cucumis sativus (Seed), and ethanolic extracts of Capsicum frutescens (Seed) and Coriandrum sativum (Seed). Antioxidant activities and total phenolic content values were estimated using DPPH reagent and Folin Ciocalteu reagent methods respectively. The antioxidant activity in short term air dried Ocimum sanctum plant methanol extract (IC50 = 0.03 ± 0.01 mg/l) was the highest among the other plant extracts. However, Coriandrum sativum plant ethanol extract produced higher phenolic content (70.24±3.4/66.57±4.1 mg/g) than other plant extracts. It was found that there was no correlation between antioxidant and phenolic content of these plant extracts.
Keywords: DPPH; Natural antioxidants; Time factor; long term air dried; short term air dried.