The objective of this paper is to compare conventional, ultrasound, microwave, and French press methods for the extraction of antioxidant compounds from Decatropis bicolor in an aqueous medium. This plant is widely used in Mexican traditional medicine for breast cancer treatment. Despite that, there are few studies on D. bicolor. Two response surface designs were applied to establish the best conditions of the liberation of antioxidants from D. bicolor, which were determined by DPPH• and Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) techniques. The total phenolic content was evaluated by the Folin-Ciocalteu method. The results showed that D. bicolor is a source of antioxidants (669-2128 mg ET/100 g and 553-1920 mg EFe2+/100 g, respectively) and phenolic compounds (2232-9929 mg EGA/100 g). Among the physical factors that were analyzed, the temperature was the determinant factor to liberate the compounds of interest by using low concentrations of the sample and short times of extraction. The French press was the most efficient method, obtaining values of antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds even higher than those reported by using extraction methods with solvents such as methanol.
Keywords: Decatropis bicolor; antioxidants; extraction methods; phenolics.