Some Anti-Oxidant Properties of Phenolic Compounds Extracts of Ackee Fruit (Blighia sapida) Seeds and Arils at Three Ripening Stages.

Although much is know on the toxicity of the unripe ackee fruit  arils (Blighia sapida),no work reported the profiling and the anti-oxidant properties of phenolic compounds of this fruit. This work aims to investigate some anti-oxidant properties of phenolic compounds of ackee fruit arils. The radical scavenging activity (RAS), chain-breaking activity, H₂O₂-scavenging, reducing capacity and total phenolics of three different ripening stages (not open, mid open and fully open) of ackee were investigated. Results showed that the phenolics content, reducing capacity and the radical scavenging activity increased as the arils ripen. The profiling of phenolic compounds by HPLC-MS showed that protochatechuic acid was predominat in arils.