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Characterization of Rubus fruticosus L. berries growing wild in Morocco: phytochemical screening, antioxidant activity and chromatography analysis

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Abstract

Rubus fruticosus L. is a widespread shrub species which has recently attracted a great attention due a plethora of different pharmacological activities. A comparative study of the volatile profile and polyphenols along with the antioxidant activity of 27 blackberries collected in 3 different locations of the Tangier–Tetouan–Al Hoceima region in Northern Morocco, between June and August 2018, is reported. In terms of antioxidant activity, the highest IC50 values were attained for the Rubus fruticosus EtOAc extract coming from Beni Messaouar (2.5 mg/mL ± 0.01). Concerning the volatile content of the Rubus fruticosus n-hexane extract belonging to Beni Messaouar, a total of 42 compounds were detected and oleic acid turned out to be the most abundant one (14.49%), whereas among the 29 polyphenols detected in the Rubus fruticosus EtOAc extract, coming from the same location, quercetin-3-O-glucoside occurred in major concentration (364.58 mg/kg). This is the first report on the physico-chemical and phytochemical properties of Moroccan Rubus fruticosus highlighting how these fruits do have a great potential as natural source of antioxidant compounds to be used as a nutraceuticals or functional foods.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Merck Life Science and Shimadzu Corporations for their continuous support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Laboratory of Valorization of Resources and Chemical Engineering, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Tangier, Morocco

    Hafssa El Cadi, Hajar El Bouzidi & Jamal Brigui

  2. Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Tangier, Morocco

    Hajar El Bouzidi & Ginane Selama

  3. Department of Biology, Laboratory of Biotechnology and Valorization of Natural Resources, Faculty of Science, University Ibn Zohr, Agadir, Morocco

    Btissam Ramdan

  4. Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Yassine Oulad El Majdoub, Paola Dugo & Luigi Mondello

  5. Chromaleont S.R.L., c/o Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Filippo Alibrando, Paola Dugo & Luigi Mondello

  6. Department of Food Science, College of Agriculture, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq

    Ammar B. Altemimi

  7. Department of Sciences and Technologies for Human and Environment, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Luigi Mondello

  8. BeSep S.R.L., c/o Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Luigi Mondello

  9. Department of Biomedical, Dental, Morphological and Functional Imaging Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Francesco Cacciola

Authors
  1. Hafssa El Cadi
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  2. Hajar El Bouzidi
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  3. Ginane Selama
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  4. Btissam Ramdan
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  5. Yassine Oulad El Majdoub
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  6. Filippo Alibrando
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  7. Jamal Brigui
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  8. Ammar B. Altemimi
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  9. Paola Dugo
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  10. Luigi Mondello
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  11. Francesco Cacciola
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Contributions

HEC: conceptualization, data curation, investigation, methodology, and writing—original draft. HEB: investigation. GS: investigation. BR: investigation. OEM: data curation and investigation. FA: investigation. JB: conceptualization and supervision; ABA: writing—review and editing. PD: writing—review and editing, and supervision. LM: resources and project administration; FC: conceptualization, methodology, resources, writing—review and editing, and supervision.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesco Cacciola.

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Cadi, H.E., Bouzidi, H.E., Selama, G. et al. Characterization of Rubus fruticosus L. berries growing wild in Morocco: phytochemical screening, antioxidant activity and chromatography analysis. Eur Food Res Technol 247, 1689–1699 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-021-03739-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-021-03739-5

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