Fluorometric based procedure for measuring curcumin concentration in commercial herbal medicines

In this study we have developed and evaluated a simple, rapid and sensitive fluorimetric method to quantify curcumin in powder formulation of turmeric and temulawak extract. Both rhizomes are commonly used as the main ingredients in Indonesian herbal medicines. The excitation and emission wavelengths were set to 420 nm and 530 nm, respectively. The fluorescence intensity of curcumin is proportional to the concentration of curcumin in the range of 0.4-2.4 mg/mL. The detection and quantitation limits were 0.0165 mg/mL and 0.0549 mg/mL, respectively. Through comparison with HPLC measurement, the results demonstrated that the current method has a potential to be used as an alternative quality standard for curcumin content determination in herbal medicines.