In this study, the potential anti-tyrosinase, antioxidant, and UV absorption efficiency of the extracts of different parts of Castanea mollissima were evaluated. The leaf extract exhibited the most potential antioxidant effect with DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging abilities of > 90%. C. mollissima extracts showed high UV-A and UV-B absorption efficiency. In addition, screening of the leaf extract demonstrated C. mollissima leaves as a rich source of tyrosinase inhibitors with maximum inhibitory activity and IC50 values of 96% and 336.43 μg/mL, respectively. This is the first-ever report of screening of leaf extract for its potential activieties. Eighteen phyto-compounds were identified from the C. mollissima leaf extract using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography techniques. Of these, the content of compounds 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 16 in the C. mollissima leaf extract was significantly high (14.35-88.42 μg/g). The molecular docking, ADMET and Lipinski’s rule of five analyses indicated high interaction efficacy of all the major compounds (DS values of -6.75 to -8.89 kcal/mol) with the target enzyme tyrosinase, had drug properties, and were non-toxic for human use.
