DETERMINATION OF PHENOLIC CONTENT OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF CITRUS SINENSIS (ORANGE PEEL)

This study sought to determine the phenolic content of ethanolic content of orange peels. The peels of Citrus sinensis, was purchased from Ogbete Main market Enugu and was brought to the Biochemistry Laboratory of the Department of Science Laboratory Technology in the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu. The peels were diced to smaller pieces after which the peels were shade-dried at room temperature (30- 35ºC). 100g of peels of oranges were coarsely powdered using a mortar and pestle and were further reduced to powder using an electric blender. The powder was dried in an oven at 40°C for 24 h. In this study, the phenolic bioactive compounds found to be present in orange peels include Catechin having total phenolic content of 13.56±0.04, Caffeicacid having total phenolic content of 4.60±0.02, Naringin having total phenolic content of 6.80±0.14, Epicatechin having total phenolic content of 8.90±0.07, Rutin having total phenolic content of 18.80±0.01, Quercetin having total phenolic content of 23.06±0.01, Kaempferol having total phenolic content of 4.67±0.01, Luteolin having total phenolic content of 4.80±0.05, Neohesperidin having total phenolic content of 9.40±0.04 and Hesperidin having total phenolic content of 10.88±0.01. the study recommends that further investigations are therefore required to determine antioxidant activity of Citrus species peels by in vivo methods and the exact mechanism of action for their pharmacological properties.