Jatropha curcas Linn. is a multipurpose plant in the Euphorbiaceae family. Numerous reports
have indicated the antioxidant properties of phenolics and flavonoids present in J. curcas root
methanolic extract. In the present study, 80% methanolic extract of J. curcas root was prepared
and used for extraction of bioactive compounds with five solvents (hexane, chloroform, ethyl
acetate, n-butanol and water) by liquid-liquid fractionation. The fractions were evaluated for
total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and antioxidant activities by using
the 2-2’-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferric reducing/antioxidant potential (FRAP) and
2,2′-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) assays. The phytochemical
compounds present in each fraction were identified by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry
(LCMS) analysis. The TPC of ethyl acetate and n-butanol fractions were 34.0 ± 0.02 μg GAE/g
DW and 33.1± 0.01 μg GAE /g DW, respectively, while the TFC were 9.2 ± 0.04 μg CE/g DW
and 10.1 ± 0.01 μg CE/g DW, respectively. The free radical scavenging activity varied with the
solvents used. Ethyl acetate fraction showed the highest inhibition for DPPH (48.7%) and FRAP
(79.6%) assays, while n-butanol fraction showed the highest ABTS radical scavenging activity
(94.8%). The LCMS analysis showed the compounds present in the various fractions were
phenolic and flavonoid derivatives such as coumaric acid, epigenin, quercetin, leuteolin and pcoumaroylquinic
acid. The results showed that TPC, TFC and antioxidant activity for ethyl
acetate and n-butanol fractions were higher compared to the other solvent fractions.