Numerous plants of medicinal value grow on Hainan Island (China). Given the lack of knowledge on the phytochemical and pharmacological properties of Michelia shiluensis Chun and Y. F. Wu (M. shiluensis), the application of natural antioxidants and antimicrobials in the food industry has attracted increasing interest. This study aimed to compare the chemical composition, free-radical-scavenging capacity, and antibiosis of aqueous extracts of the fresh and dried leaves of M. shiluensis. The aqueous extract of the leaves of M. shiluensis was obtained using steam distillation, and its chemical components were separated and identified via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The free-radical-scavenging capacity and antibiosis were determined. Further, 28 and 20 compounds were isolated from the fresh leaf aqueous extract of M. shiluensis (MSFLAE) and dried leaf aqueous extract of M. shiluensis (MSDLAE), respectively. The free-radical-scavenging capacity of MSFLAE and MSDLAE was determined by the 2,2-diphenyl-1 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method, which was 43.43% and 38.74%, respectively. The scavenging capacity of MSFLAE and MSDLAE determined by the 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate (ABTS)) method was 46.90% and 25.99%, respectively. The iron ion reduction capacity of MSFLAE and MSDLAE was determined by the ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) method as 94.7 and 62.9 μmol Fe2⁺/L, respectively. This indicated that the two leaf aqueous extracts had a certain free-radical-scavenging capacity, and the capacity of MSFLAE was higher than that of MSDLAE. The antibiosis of the two leaf aqueous extracts on the three foodborne pathogenic bacteria was low, but the antimicrobial effects on Gram-positive bacteria were better than those on Gram-negative bacteria. The antibiosis of MSFLAE on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was greater than that of MSDLAE. Finally, MSFLAE and MSDLAE both had certain free-radical-scavenging capacities and antibiosis, confirming that the use of this plant in the research and development of natural antioxidants and antibacterial agents was reasonable. Plant aqueous extracts are an essential source of related phytochemistry and have immense pharmacological potential.
Keywords: Michelia shiluensis; antibiosis; free-radical-scavenging capacity; gas chromatography–mass spectrometry.