DOI: https://doi.org/10.55373/mjchem.v25i2.52

Keywords: Musa acuminata; banana; phytochemical; antioxidant

Abstract

Banana (Musa acuminata) is categorized as tasty fruit with high nutrient content. Significant quantities of banana peels are equivalent to 40% of the total weight of fresh bananas and are generated as waste products and disposed of in large amounts by households and industries. This study aims to determine the optimum extraction conditions to obtain the highest yield of M. acuminata peel extract and analyse its antioxidant capacity. The extraction was carried out via maceration technique using methanol with a solid-to-solvent of 1:30 g/mL. The extraction conditions of M. acuminata peels were optimized using a central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM). The optimum extraction yield was predicted to be about 28.84% at an extraction temperature of 54.14°C and a time of 5 hours. The extraction was carried out at the optimum conditions; it was found that the average yield was 28.96  0.5% revealing good correspondence with the predicted value. Qualitative phytochemical screening of the methanolic extract of M. acuminata peels obtained at optimized conditions revealed the presence of flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, saponins, steroids, phenols, glycosides, and terpenoids. Total phenolic content of 32.91  0.33 mg GAE/g and DPPH radical scavenging activity with 94.34% percentage of inhibition and IC50 value of 69.70  1.08 ug/mL were recorded for the extract, respectively. High total phenolic content with a high percentage of inhibition in DPPH radical scavenging activity proved that M. acuminata peels might have a significant amount of bioactive constituents and can be a promising candidate for natural antioxidants.