Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.) is known as “the queen of fruits” because it is one of the best tasting tropical fruits. The edible aril of mangosteen is milky white, while the rind is dark red and composes about two times of the edible portion.
Highly valued for its juicy, delicate texture and slightly sweet and sour flavor, mangosteen has been cultivated in Java, Sumatra, Mainland Southeast Asia, and the southern Philippines since ancient times.
Mangosteen rind, as waste product, contains a lot of water-soluble antioxidant. Various kinds of xanthones in mangosteen rind had been proven to have strong antioxidant activity included α-mangostin. Oxidation reaction is a process where electrons are transferred from one atom to another, with the molecule losing an electron being oxidized.
The rind of mangosteen fruit has been reported to contain some phenolic compounds, such as tannins, flavonoids, xanthones, and other bioactive substances which support the medicinal properties.
Some chemical compounds or secondary metabolites have been isolated from mangosteen rind which includes xanthones (a class of polyphenolic compounds with a characteristic tricyclic aromatic ring system) or xanthen9H-ones. Of the 40 xanthones present in the pericarp of the fruit, the most abundant xanthones found are α-mangostin, β-mangostin, and γ-mangostin.
These isolated compounds have various biological effects such as antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities.
Biological compound of mangosteen
