1The bioactive chemical constituents of water and ethanol extracts of Euphorbia hirta L. leaves have 2 been identified and quantified using an un-targeted mass spectrometric approach. The study allowed 3 the tentative identification of 123 individual phenolic compounds and 18 non-phenolic 4 phytochemicals, most of them described in Euphorbia hirta L. leaves for the first time. 5 Gallotannins, hydroxybenzoic and hydroxycinnamic acids were the most abundant phenolic classes 6 in Euphorbia hirta L. leaves, representing together the 71. 5% (26.3%, 25.2% and 20%, 7 respectively) of the total amount of identified phenolics. The main phenolic compounds detected 8 were tri-O-galloyl-glucose isomers, feruloyl-coniferin, tetra-O-galloyl-glucose isomers, di-O-9 galloyl-glucose isomers, ethyl-gallic acid, protocatechuic acid-O-pentoside-O-hexoside, 5-O-10 caffeoyl-quinic acid trans isomer and digalloyl-quinic acid. Feruloyl-coniferin was found to be 11 approximately six times more concentrated in the ethanol extract with respect to the water extract. 12 The ethanol extract exhibited higher ABTS (1338.3 ± 85.3 and 802.3 ± 91.0 μmol ascorbic acid 13 equivalent/gram of dry extract, respectively) and superoxide anion (2014.6 ± 78.6 and 1528.0 ± 14 111.7 μmol ascorbic acid equivalent/gram of dry extract, respectively) scavenging abilities than the 15 water extract. Additionally, the ethanol extract also showed a remarkable anti-fungal effect against 16 Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum, Alternaria solani and Rhizoctonia solani. This study 17 provides new information about Euphorbia hirta L., offering reasons to promote this plant species 18 as rich source of phenolics and an excellent source of antifungal molecules that might have a 19 prospective use in controlling fungal diseases of vegetable crops. 20 Euphorbia hirta L. (E. hirta) is a plant species commonly found in all tropical countries worldwide, 23 including Cameroon. E. hirta belongs to the spurge family of Euphorbiaceae. Although it can be 24 seen lying down sometimes, it is usually upright, slender-stemmed, spreading up to 80 cm tall (Abu 25 et al., 2011).
26E. hirta is a very popular medicinal herb and has been used since ancient times as decoction or 27 infusion in traditional remedies to treat gastro-intestinal diseases and disorders (e.g. intestinal 28 parasites, diarrhoea and peptic ulcer), skin problems and asthma (Huang et al., 2012). More 29 recently, extracts from E. hirta have shown a broad range of biological properties, including 30 antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer and antidiabetic activities 31 (Almosnid et al., 2018;Kumar et al., 2010;Li et al., 2015). Several phytochemicals have been 32 already extracted and identified from E. hirta leaves, such as terpenoids, coumarins, lignans and 33 phenolic compounds (Kumar et al., 2010;Li et al., 2015;Yi et al., 2012). The latter components, 34 widely known for their antioxidant and biological activities, have been rarely investigated. In this 3...
