Phytochemical Analysis and Antioxidant Activity of Crocus speciosus Leaves Olha Mykhailenko 1,* , Ivan Bezruk 1 , Victoriia Volochai 2 , Volodymyr Mishchenko 3 , Liudas Ivanauskas 4 and Victoriya Georgiyants 1 1 Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, National University of Pharmacy, Kharkiv, 61168, Ukraine 2 Department of Pharmacognosy, National University of Pharmacy, Kharkiv, 61168, Ukraine 3 Department of Quality, Standardisation and Certification of Drugs, National University of Pharmacy, Kharkiv, 61001, Ukraine 4 Department of Analytical and Toxicological Chemistry, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, 44307, Lithuania * Corresponding Author: Olha Mykhailenko. Email: Mykhailenko.farm@gmail.com Received: 07 March 2021 Accepted: 28 May 2021 ABSTRACT The numerous studies indicate leaves of plants are a rich source of bioactive compounds that can be a valuable source of compounds used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Aim of this study was to investigate the chemical composition and the antioxidant property of Crocus speciosus leaves. Primary phytochemical screening of C. speciosus leaves revealed the presence of some following compound categories such as phenolic compounds, aminoacids, saponins, proteins, tannins, triterpenoids, glycosides, polysaccharides. The total flavonoids and phe- nolic compounds content were determined spectrophotometrically and by HPLC-DAD and HPLC-MS. Antira- dical activity was determined by ABTS radical-cation scavenging method, spectrophotometrically. The total amount of flavonoids in C. speciosus leaves was 1.07 ± 0.02 mg RE/g (p < 0.05), the total amount of phenolic compounds was 0.41 ± 0.01 mg GAE/g (p < 0.05). By HPLC-DAD-MS analysis the presence of the mangiferin, chlorogenic acid, isoorientin, kaempferol, hyperoside, and isoquercitin was established for the first time in Crocus leaves. The antiradical activity of C. speciosus leaves extracts was 150.08 ± 4.5 μmol/g (p < 0.05) and its was mainly attributed to phenolic compounds content. The high amounts of flavonoids and antiradical activity in C. speciosus leaves suggests promising phytochemical and pharmacological study of this Crocus species. KEYWORDS Crocus speciosus; flavonoids; leaves; antiradical activity 1 Introduction The genus Crocus L. (Iridaceae) consists of about 100 species recognized [1,2]. The genus Crocus is divided into two subgenera: subgenus Crociris containing C. banaticus and subgenus Crocus comprising the remaining species. The subgenus Crocus is further divided into two sections: section Crocus and section Nudiscapus. The genus is of ecological, horticultural, culinary and pharmacological importance [3]. The most known representative of the genus Crocus is Crocus sativus L. or saffron, which is used as a coloring agent, flavor enhancer and also as a medicine. Recent researches [4–6] point to the value of by-products in the saffron production. The possibility of additional use of leaves, flowers or low-quality corms of the plant can increase the profit for the farming This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: 10.32604/phyton.2022.016458 ARTICLE ech T Press Science