Analysis of volatile components of Curcuma sichuanensis X. X. Chen by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Volatile components of Curcuma sichuanensis X. X. Chen growing in Sichuan, China, were extracted by steam distillation and analyzed by using gas chromatography and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. A total of 44 volatile essential oil components were identified in the extract of C. sichuanensis X. X. Chen, representing 87.1% of the total integrated chromatographic peaks. The major compounds were found to be epi-curzerenone (26.9%), germacrone (12.4%), isocurcumenol (9.7%), β-elemene (6.4%) and curzerene (6.2%). The results of semi-quantitative analysis indicated that levels of total sesquiterpene fraction (85.4%) were more than 55 times higher than those of monoterpene components (1.5%).