The effect of different type of solvents on the antioxidant activity of fucoxanthin extract from brown seaweed Sargassum duplicatum

Abstract

Fucoxanthin is the main part of carotenoid in brown seaweed. It have been reported as an antioxidant by donating an electron to free radicals so the oxidative reaction could be prevented. Fucoxanthin could be an alternative to substitute the use of synthetic antioxidant. The purpose of this study was to determine antioxidant activity of fucoxanthin extract from Sargassum duplicatum with different solvent and determine the solvent that can produce the highest antioxidant activity of fucoxanthin extract. This research was a descriptive exploratory. The extraction method in this study was maceration, while the solvent used are ethanol, methanol, and ethyl acetate. The result showed that methanol solvent was the best solvent to produce fucoxanthin with relatively strong antioxidant activity (IC₅₀ 78.52±21,23 ppm). And followed by ethanol solvent with strong antioxidant activity (93.77±21,19 ppm) and ethyl acetate solvent with moderate antoxidant activity (112.30±15,79 ppm). Beside that, methanol solvent has the highest fucoxanthin content (145.86 µg/g) than ethanol and ethyl acetate.