A new colorimetric DPPH scavenging activity method with no need for a spectrophotometer applied on synthetic and natural antioxidants and medicinal herbs.

2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, the most commonly used antioxidant method with more than seventeen thousand articles cited, is very practical; however, as with most assays, it has the major disadvantage of dependence on a spectrophotometer. To overcome this drawback, the colorimetric determination of the antioxidant activity using a scanner and freely available Image J software was developed. In this new method, the mixtures of solutions of DPPH and standard antioxidants or extracts of common medicinal herbs were dropped onto TLC plates, after an incubation period. The spot images were evaluated with Image J software to determine CSC values, the sample concentrations providing 50% colour reduction, which were very similar with the SC values obtained with spectrophotometric method. The advantages of the new method are the use of lower amounts of reagents and solvents, no need for costly spectrophotometers, and thus significantly lowered costs, and convenient implementation in any environment and situation.