COMPARISON OF ESTERIFICATION AND TRANSESTERIFICATION METHOD IN SYNTHESIS OF OCTYL P-METHOXYCINNAMATE (OPMC) FROM KAEMPFERIA GALANGA L. RHIZOME

Octyl p-methoxycinnamate (OPMC) is a cinnamic acid derivative that is often used for sunscreens in cosmetics. OPMC can be synthesized from ethyl p-methoxycinnamate (EPMC) as main contain in kaempferia galanga L. rhizome. The purpose of this study is to compare the synthesize of OPMC from natural EPMC by esterification and transesterification method. The first step is the extraction of EPMC from kaempferia galanga L. rhizome by maceration method (29,76%). In the esterification method, EPMC was hydrolysis into 4-methoxycinnamic acid (4MCA) (72%) then reacted with octanol in different reaction time ((2,3,4,5,6 h). In the transesterification method, EPMC directly reacted with octanol in different reaction time (2,3,4,5,6 h). The OPMC synthesis results were identified with TLC, FTIR spectrophotometry, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The identification results show that OPMC can be synthesized by both of method with optimum reaction time for esterification method is 3 hours and for transesterification method is 5 hours.