INVESTIGATING THE PRESENCE OF CURCUMINOID IN CRUDE EXTRACTS OF C. longa AND C. zedoaria

Abstract

Curcuma species of Zingiberaceae family is a widely cultivated spice in Asian countries. C. longa L. is a well-established commercial source of curcuminoids, whereas C. zedoaria Rosc. remains relatively underutilized despite its rich phytochemistry. Comparing their extract yields not only identifies the most efficient solvent systems but also highlights the potential of C. zedoaria Rosc. as an alternative or complementary source of curcuminoids. The study focused on the screening of crude extracts obtained using four different solvents: methanol, ethanol, petroleum ether, and distilled water. Curcuminoid were extracted as a crude-extract from Dry Rhizome of C. longa and C. zedoaria using Soxhlet evaporator for 6 hours. Concentration of 75%, 85% and 95% were used from all three solvents instead of distilled water. Results showed that 75% methanol is the best solvent to extract the curcuminoids from C. longa and distilled water is the best solvent for C. zedoaria. The absorbance of C. longa extracted with all three solvent percentages (75%, 85% and 95%) ethanol has shown a maximum absorbance at the wavelength of 423 nm while all three percentages of methanol show maximum absorbance at the wavelength of 419 nm. The absorbance of ethanol extracted C. zedoaria having absorbance range of 267 to 274 nm. The extracts of petroleum ether as well as methanol, with all three solvent percentages (75%, 85% and 95%) as well as distilled water shown a maximum absorbance between 194 nm to 274 nm. The distilled water had shown the lowest absorbance of 194 nm. Acccordingly, Curcuma longa extracted in ethanol has shown the presence of curcuminoids. However, C. zedoaria does not prove the presence of curcuminoids from the UV spectrophotometer by not showing the absorbance peaks on the referred range of wavelength. The findings suggest continuity research with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to identify chemicals present in C. longa and C. zedoaria.