## 3 Results and Discussion
### Phenolic Composition of Fruit Extracts  
Phenolic compounds are secondary metabolites derived from plant tissues which exhibit a variety of biological effects, including antioxidant and antimicrobial activities due to their redox properties and chemoprevertive properties.  
In this study, two fruits, _C. azarolus_ fruits and _M. germanica_, were extracted under different conditions (see Table 1) in order to determine their phenolic and flavonoid contents, as well as their antioxidant and antidiabetic properties. The results of the TPC and TFC contents of the _C. azarolus_ and _M. germanica_ fruits are presented in Table 3.  
The total phenol contents ranged from \(51.52\pm 4.32\) mgGAE/100 g fruit to \(94.30\pm 15.55\) mgGAE/100 g fruit for _C. azarolus_, being higher than the total phenol content of _M. germanica_. The highest content of phenolic compounds was observed in samples M6 (to \(94.30\pm 15.55\) mgGAE/100 g fruit) for _C. azarolus_ and P5 (\(70.01\pm 13.74\) mgGAE/100 g fruit) for _M. germanica_.  
The highest flavonoid content among the _C. azarolus_ extracts was observed in M7, followed by the M4 and M5 extracts. As for the _M. germanica_ extracts, the highest value was observed in extract P8, followed by P6 and P5. Also, the _M. germanica_ extracts tended to have higher contents of flavonoids in general, compared to the extracts of _C. azarolus_.  
A few studies have reported on the total phenolic and flavonoid contents of _C. azarolus_ and _M. germanica_ extracts from several sources. The total amount of phenolic compounds for _C. azarolus_ flower was found to range from \(18.88\) to \(27.59\) mgGAE/g, and the total amount of flavonoids was in the range of \(4.68\) to \(8.96\) mg/g dry weight [10], while phenolic extracts prepared from the leaf and fruit peel/pulp of yellow and red azarole showed that the yellow azarole was significantly richer in polyphenols than the red fruit species. The highest total phenol content was observed in _C. azarolus_ leaves (\(4006.27\pm 112.17\) mgGAE/100 g), followed by the fruit peel (\(2023.21\pm 47.05\) mgGAE/100 g) [20].  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Fruit**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Antioxidant Activity**} \\ \cline{3-6} \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Samples**} & **TPC, mgGAE/100 g Fruit** & **TFC, mgR/100 g Fruit** & **FRAP, mmol FeSO\({}_{\text{d}}\)/100 g Fruit** & **DPPH, \%** \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{
\begin{tabular}{c} **C. azarolus** \\ **C. azarolus** \\ **C.  
In a recent study, it was reported that the TPC and TFC values for _M. germanica_ were 16.7 \(\pm\) 0.3 mg\({}_{\rm GAE}\)/g and 2.30 \(\pm\) 0.07 mg\({}_{\rm RUE}\)/g, respectively [21], while the total phenolic content in the methanolic extract of medial leaves was 380.58 mg\({}_{\rm GAE}\)/g of dry extract and the total flavonoid content of the extract was 75.16 mg\({}_{\rm QE}\)/g of dry extract [22]. In another study, [23], the total phenolic content of fruits of _M. germanica_ varied from 164 to 227 mgGAE/100 g. The highest flavonoid content was observed in _M. germanica_ fruits collected from the north of Iran (0.90 mg/g dry extract), followed by _M. canescens_ leaf (0.53 mg/g dry extract). The reported literature results show great variability, as factors such as fruit species, fruit ripeness stage, extraction conditions and methodologies play an important role.