A high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was investigated for the simultaneous quantification of two chemical types of bioactive compounds in the rhizome of Curcuma longa Linn. (turmeric), including three curcuminoids: Curcumin, bisdemethoxycurcumin, and demethoxycurcumin; and three volatile components: ar-turmerone, β-turmerone, and α-turmerone. In the present study, the sample extraction system was optimized by a pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) process for further HPLC analysis. The established HPLC analysis conditions were achieved using a Zorbax SB-C18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm i.d., 5 μm) and a gradient mobile phase comprised of acetonitrile and 0.4% (v/v) aqueous acetic acid with an eluting rate of 1.0 mL/min. The curcuminoids and volatile components were detected at 430 nm and 240 nm, respectively. Moreover, the method was validated in terms of linearity, sensitivity, precision, stability and accuracy. The validated method was successfully applied to evaluate the quality of twelve commercial turmeric samples.
Keywords: Curcuma longa; HPLC; curcuminoids; quantification; turmeric; turmerone.