**4. References**

60 Food Industrial Processes – Methods and Equipment

Fig. 10. Photodecomposition of Trifluralin

0 10 20 30 40

Chlorthalonil Pencycuron Cafenstrole Thiobencarb Trifluralin

DNP

t (min)

Figure 11 shows the relationship between ln(C/C0) and t. As these pesticides were decomposed immediately, the linear relationship between ln(C/C0) and t could not be

Fig. 11. Relationship between ln(C/C0) and t photocatalyst.


obtained.





ln(C/Co)





0


**5** 

**Review:** 

*Malaysia* 

*1University of Malaya* 

Lai Teng Ling1 and U.D. Palanisamy2

*2Monash University Sunway Campus* 

**Potential Antioxidants from Tropical Plants** 

Higher plants have been utilised as important sources of medicinal drugs and health products since ancient days. Our ancestors practice the use of plants in their daily life as medicines. Therefore, the inherited knowledge about the traditional medicine is a key factor that could promote the development of modern drugs. Advances in modernisation and progress are expected to maximise the benefits of traditional herbal medicines for public health care (Chan, 2003). Investigations about plants have yielded amazing discoveries and development in modern medicine. Scientists carry out chemical investigation and purification of plants to get

The Malaysian rainforest is rich in diverse species of flora and fauna. Our forests store plenty of plant species which are important sources of traditional medicine. From about 10,000 species of higher plants and 2000 species of lower plants available in Peninsular Malaysia, approximately 16% are identified to be useful in medicines (Lattif et al., 1984). There are still a great number of unexplored plants that have high potential to be developed

To date, a huge number of plants have been studied for their potential sources of antioxidants. Plants contain a wide variety of free radical scavenging molecules, such as polyphenols, dietary glutathione, vitamins and endogenous metabolites. These natural products make good antioxidants. Plant-derived antioxidants have been shown to function as singlet and triplet oxygen quenchers, peroxide decomposers, enzyme inhibitors and synergists (Larson, 1988). Studies have proven the correlation between the intake of fruits and vegetables and the morbidity and mortality from degenerative diseases (Rimm et al., 1996). It is not known which specific dietary constituents are responsible for this association, but antioxidants are assumed to be the major compounds that play an important role (Gey et al., 1991). Epidemiological studies that analyse the health implications of dietary components rely on the intake estimates in sample populations found in databases that list

Besides dietary sources, antioxidants can be obtained in bulk from food processing industries and agricultural-by-products. The respective by-products are seeds, peels, bark, mill wastes and trimming wastes. In the citrus industries, industrial-by-products may

the component's content in commonly consumed foods (Pellegrini et al., 2003).

purified compounds which contribute to its medicinal properties.

**1. Introduction 1.1 Background** 

into medicines.

