Abstract:The objective of this study was to explore the antioxidant activities of different solvent extracts of Forsythia suspensa leaves. The Forsythia suspensa leaves were extracted with distilled water，ethanol，60 % ethanol，80 % ethanol，ethyl acetate，respectively.The contents of polysaccharide，total phenolics and flavonoids were detected by the phenol -sulphuric acid method，Folin -Ciocalie method and the aluminium trichloride colorimetry method；the antioxidant activity was investigated by DPPH·clearance rate， ·OH clearance rate， O2-· clearance rate， ABTS +· clearance rate and FRAP assays with BHT as positive control；the correlation between the contents of the active compounds and antioxidant properties was analyzed. All the five extracts exhibited antioxidant capacities in a dose-dependent manner， the five extracts exhibited different antioxidant abilities as the assessment methods were different.The content of total phenolics and flavonoids both had a highly significant correlation with the ·OH clearance rate and the ferric reducing antioxidant power，the content of flavonoids also had a highly significant correlation with the O2-·clearance rate. The extracts that extracted by 80 % ethanol and 60 % ethanol had realitively higher antioxidant activity.