Chemical composition and antioxidant activities of essential oil and oleoresins from Curcuma zedoaria rhizomes, part-74

• Chemical composition of essential oil and oleoresins have been analyzed by GC–MS.
• Curzerenone and Germacrone were the major components in volatile oil and oleoresins.
• Antioxidant potentials of essential oil and oleoresins have been investigated.
• These plant products can be promising alternatives to synthetic antioxidants.

The chemical composition of essential oil and oleoresins (ethanol, ethyl acetate and isopropanol) from rhizomes of Curcuma zedoaria was analyzed by the Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectroscopy technique. The antioxidant studies were carried out by peroxide and thiobarbituric acid values, ferric thiocyanate, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, metal chelating and reducing power methods. Curzerenone (31.6%) was the major component in the volatile oil, followed by germacrone (10.8%). In ethanol, isopropanol and ethyl acetate oleoresin, a total of 26, 25, and 40 components were identified respectively and the major ones are curzerenone, germacrone, camphor and curcumenol. Essential oil, oleoresins (ethyl acetate and isopropanol) showed potent antioxidant activity in all the experiments. However, the activity of ethanol oleoresin was found to be lower as compared to ethyl acetate and isopropanol oleoresin.