Phytochemical Composition, Antioxidant, and Antimicrobial Attributes of Different Solvent Extracts from Myrica esculenta Buch.-Ham. ex. D. Don Leaves

Background: Plant diversity is a basic source of food and medicine for local Himalayan communities. The current study was designed to assess the effect of different solvents (methanol, ethyl acetate, and water) on the phenolic profile, and the corresponding biological activity was studied. Methods: Antioxidant activity was investigated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2″-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic) acid (ABTS) assay, while the antimicrobial activity was evaluated by disk diffusion method using various bacterial and fungal strains. Results: The outcomes demonstrated that methanol acted as the most effective solvent for polyphenols extraction, as strengthened by the liquid chromatography and mass spectroscopy (LC-MS) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. M. esculenta methanol extract showed the highest DPPH and ABTS radical scavenger antioxidant activity with IC(50) values of 39.29 μg/mL and 52.83 μg/mL, respectively, while the ethyl acetate and aqueous extracts revealed minimum antioxidant potential. Methanol extract also revealed higher phenolic content, 88.94 ± 0.24 mg of equivalent gallic acid (GAE)/g), measured by the Folin–Ciocalteu method, while the minimum content was recorded for aqueous extract (62.38 ± 0.14 GAE/g). The highest flavonoid content was observed for methanol extract, 67.44 ± 0.14 mg quercetin equivalent (QE)/g) measured by an aluminum chloride colorimetric method, while the lowest content was recorded for aqueous extract (35.77 ± 0.14 QE/g). Antimicrobial activity findings also reveal that the methanol extract led to a higher inhibition zone against bacterial and fungal strains. FTIR analysis reveals the presence of various functional groups, viz. alkenes, amines, carboxylic acids, amides, esters, alcohols, phenols, ketones, carboxylic acids, and aromatic compounds. This FTIR analysis could serve as a basis for the authentication of M. esculenta extracts for future industrial applications. Compounds identified by LC-MS analysis were gallic acid, myricanol, myricanone, epigallocatechin 3-O-gallate, β-sitosterol, quercetin, p-coumaric acid, palmitic acid, n-pentadecanol, n-octadecanol, stigmasterol, oleanolic acid, n-hexadecanol, cis-β-caryophyllene, lupeol, and myresculoside. Conclusion: This study suggests that the methanolic extract from M. esculenta leaves has strong antioxidant potential and could be a significant source of natural antioxidants and antimicrobials for functional foods formulation.