Phytochemical Composition and Antioxidant Potential of Diplocyclos palmatus (L.) C. Jeffrey: An Important Cucurbitaceae Plant

Diplocyclos palmatus (L.) C. Jeffrey is a cucurbitaceous medicinal climber traditionally used in several rural and folk health practices. The present manuscript reports only the experimental data related to Diplocyclos palmatus (L.) C. Jeffrey extracts prepared using methanol, ethyl acetate, and hexane. The work aimed to describe solvent-wise differences in primary metabolites, selected phytochemical groups, and antioxidant capacity using colorimetric and microplate-based assays. Among primary metabolites, methanol gave the highest contents of total sugars (59.76 mg/g), reducing sugars (31.45 mg/g), starch (47.92 mg/g), total proteins (36.48 mg/g), and free amino acids (15.32 mg/g), whereas the hexane extract showed the highest lipid level (28.56 mg/g). For secondary metabolites, the methanolic extract contained the highest total phenolic content (126.420 mg GAE/g), total flavonoid content (148.111 mg QE/g), and total alkaloid content (63.174 mg QE/g). Total tannins were highest in the ethyl acetate extract (46.211 mg TAE/g), indicating better recovery of semi-polar tannin fractions. Antioxidant assays also supported the dominance of polar extracts, with methanol showing the strongest FRAP value (75.766 mg FeSO4/g) and ABTS radical-scavenging activity (76.884 mg TE/g). Overall, the results indicate that Diplocyclos palmatus (L.) C. Jeffrey is a promising source of polar phenolics, flavonoids, and alkaloids with measurable antioxidant potential.