Industrial Crops and Products 41 (2013) 71–77 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Industrial Crops and Products journa l h o me page: www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop Antioxidant activities, total phenolic contents and chemical compositions of extracts from four Cameroonian woods: Padouk (Pterocarpus soyauxii Taubb), tali (Erythrophleum suaveolens), moabi (Baillonella toxisperma), and movingui (Distemonanthus benthamianus) Jean-Bosco Tchinda Saha a , Daouda Abia b , Stéphane Dumarc ¸ ay c,∗ , Maurice Kor Ndikontar a , Philippe Gérardin c , Joseph Ngamveng Noah a , Dominique Perrin c a Laboratory of Physico-Chemistry of Wood, University of Yaounde 1, Cameroon b Material Chemistry Laboratory, University of Yaounde 1, Cameroon c Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherche sur le Matériau Bois, Université de Lorraine, France a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 6 January 2012 Received in revised form 31 March 2012 Accepted 5 April 2012 Keywords: Antioxidant activity Total phenolic content Pterocarpus soyauxii Taubb Erythrophleum suaveolens Baillonella toxisperma Distemonanthus benthamianus a b s t r a c t The antioxidant activities, total phenolic contents and chemical compositions of extracts from four Cameroonian woods were investigated. The antioxidant activities were evaluated using the scavenging of 2-2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH·) and the oxygen uptake method. The total phenolic content (TPC) was evaluated according to the Folin–Ciocalteu assay in which gallic acid was used as standard. Con- densed tannins were evaluated by using the Stiasny method. Chemical compositions of the extracts were evaluated by GC–MS. The results show that toluene/ethanol extracts from tali (Erythrophleum suaveolens) exhibit the highest antioxidant activity with CE 50 value of 3.1 mg/L followed by movingui (Distemonanthus benthamianus) extracts (CE 50 value 3.9 mg/L), padouk (Pterocarpus soyauxii Taubb) and moabi (Baillonella toxisperma) (CE 50 value of 5.5 mg/L and 44 mg/L respectively). The TPC and condensed tannins of extracts were in the range of 54–992 mg eq. gallic acid/g of extract and 8–60%, respectively. Homopterocarpin and pterocarpin were the major compounds found in the extracts of padouk. Catechin, gallic acid, and pyrogallol were the major compounds identified in tali extracts. Movingui extracts principally contain diterpenes. Gallic acid, squalene and triperpenes were the major compounds of moabi extracts. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Wood has always been an important material for humans. Its usefulness has not diminished because of the multiplicity of its uses. Cameroon has significant forest resources, the forest is 39 million hectares, or about 42% of the national area and comprises nearly 300 species of wood, of which 40–80 are commercially exploited. In Cameroon, the timber industry generates large amounts of waste that are usually used as fuel or abandoned; they could lead to differ- ent valuations. When a tree is cut down, only 40% of the tree is used as a timber, the rest (sawdust, bark, etc.) is most often not valued, discarded or used as firewood (Ndikontar, 2005). Waste recovery is a challenge increasingly important for industrial processes eco- nomically sustainable and environmentally. ∗ Corresponding author at: Faculté des Science et Technologies BP 70239, F-54506 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France. Tel.: +33 383684834; fax: +33 383684498. E-mail address: stephane.dumarcay@lermab.uhp-nancy.fr (S. Dumarc ¸ ay). Heartwood of some tropical wood species have high extractive content. They are usually rich in polyphenols, which have many favorable effects on human health such as inhibiting the oxidation of low-density lipoproteins (Frankel et al., 1993), thereby decreas- ing the risk of heart diseases. They have anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties. Thus, measurements of polyphenols and antioxidant activity of wood extracts have become important tools to understand the values of wood species from a health point of view. Antioxidants are generally constituted by phenolic acids, flavanoids, and tannins (Dykes and Rooney, 2006). In addition to their contribution to wood color and odor, extrac- tives have also been found to have specific biological activities, such as antioxidant activity (Diouf et al., 2006), plant growth regulatory effects, and antimicrobial activity. Tropical African tree species are very promising plant materials in the search for natural products with various biological activities because the plants grow under very severe conditions such as strong ultraviolet rays and high tem- peratures. Therefore, African plants, especially medicinal plants, have attracted considerable research interest (Atawodi, 2004). It may be noted that numerous extracts from various tropical trees 0926-6690/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2012.04.012