*2.3. Determination of Total Phenolic Content (TPC)*

The total phenolic content of different samples was measured by following the Folin-Ciocalteu procedure, the method Singleton and Rossi [33] described previously. An aliquot of 100 μL of the plant extract (at a concentration of 1 mg mL<sup>−</sup>1) and 500 μL of the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent (1:3 *v/v*) were mixed with 500 μL distilled water in a test tube and shaken for 5 min at room temperature. Then, 500 μL sodium carbonate (10%) was added to the solution, and the mixture was left to rest for 1 h. Deionized distilled water served as a blank. Then, the absorbance of the obtained mixture was taken using a ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometer (Jasco V530 UV-VIS spectrophotometer, Tokyo, Japan) at 725 nm against the blank. The results are expressed as mg of the gallic acid equivalent (GAE) per g of the dry weight (DW). A calibration curve was prepared using 20–500 mg/L gallic acid (R2 = 0.9980).
