Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for quantitative and qualitative analysis of essential oil from Curcuma wenyujin rhizomes

Objectives: A rapid and sensitive gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method for quantitative and qualitative analysis of essential oil from Curcuma wenyujin rhizomes was established. Methods: The essential oil of C. wenyujin rhizomes was extracted by supercritical CO2 extraction (SFE). Six main bioactive compounds (eucalyptol, beta-elemene, curzerene, germacrone, curdione, and curcumol) were analyzed in selected ion monitoring mode (SIM). Results: Curzerene is not originally present in C. wenyujin rhizomes, but is a product of the transformation of furanodiene at high temperature. The six target components demonstrated good linearity (R2 > 0.9979) over a relatively wide concentration range. The interday and intraday variations had relative standard deviation values less than 5% and the average recovery ranged from 96.95% to 100.04%. The limit of quantitation ranged from 0.032 to 0.235 mu g/mL. The developed method was successfully used to analyze the six compounds in 17 samples collected from different origins. Significant variation was observed for the concentrations of the six compounds. In addition, 51 constituents were identified in C. wenyujin rhizome essential oil, consisting of 87.66% of the total essential oil, including curdione, curzerene, dehydrocurdione, germacrone, 1,4-bis(2-benzimidazoyl)benzene, neocurdione, curcumenone, and beta-elemene. Conclusions: The proposed method will be useful in the quality control of C. wenyujin rhizome essential oil production.