Measurement of Antioxidant Activities and Phenolic and Flavonoid Contents of the Brown Seaweed Sargassum horneri: Comparison of Supercritical CO2 and Various Solvent Extractions

Seaweed Sargassum horneri extracts were obtained using supercritical carbon dioxide ($SC-CO_2$) and different solvents. $SC-CO_2$ was kept at a temperature of $45^{\circ}C$ and pressure of 250 bar. The flow rate of $CO_2$ (27 g/min) was constant during the entire 2-h extraction period, and ethanol was used as a cosolvent. Six different solvents [acetone, hexane, methanol, ethanol, acetone mix methanol (7:3), and hexane mix ethanol (9:1)] were used for extraction and agitated by magnetic stirring (250 rpm) in the dark at $25^{\circ}C$ for 20 h; the ratio of material to solvent was 1:10 (w/v). Antioxidant properties of S. horneri extracted using $SC-CO_2$ with ethanol and different solvents have shown good activity. The highest activity belongs to $SC-CO_2$ with ethanol extracted oil, showing DPPH, ABTS, total phenolic content, and total flavonoid levels of $68.38{\pm}1.21%$, $83.51{\pm}1.25%$, $0.64{\pm}0.02mg/g$, and $5.57{\pm}0.05mg/g$, respectively. The S. horneri extracts showed a significant correlation between the antioxidant activity and phenolic content. Based on these results, the $SC-CO_2$ extract (ethanol) of the seaweed extract from brown seaweed may be a valuable antioxidant source.