Ascorbic acid content and the antioxidant activity of common fruits commercially available in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

ABSTRACT. The present work was aimed to determine the contents of ascorbic acid and the antioxidant activity of eight types of common fruits commercially available in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia using iodometric titration and UV-Vis spectrophotometric methods, respectively. The contents of ascorbic acid were found in the range 15.41 mg/100 g in grapes to 78.01 mg/100 g in papaya. The antioxidant activity was found highest in papaya (89.41) and lowest in water melon (31.28) in mg of ascorbic acid equivalent per 100 g of the edible part of fruit juice. The calibration curve of ascorbic acid was in the range 50 - 3.125 mg/L with R2 = 0.9994. The results also revealed the strong correlation (r = 0.863) between ascorbic acid contents in fruits and their antioxidant activity. Using the optimized conditions, UV-Vis spectrophotometric method with the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazil assay allows determination of antioxidant activity of fruits with limit of detection 0.32 mg/L and limit of quantification 0.96 mg/L. The precision was in the acceptable range (relative standard deviation, RSD < 20%) for determination of ascorbic acid and < 10% for antioxidant activity determination. The recovery of ascorbic acid was between 85% and 113% for selected fruits showing good accuracy of the results.   KEY WORDS: Fruits, Ascorbic acid contents, Antioxidant activity, Free radical scavengers, Iodometric titration, UV-Vis spectrophotometry   Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2023, 37(2), 277-288.                                                            DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v37i2.3