Comparative GC-MS analysis of all <em>Curcuma</em> species grown in Sri Lanka by multivariate test

Curcuma is clinically valuable genus in Traditional Medicine. People use various plants under the same vernacular name may lead to adulteration or substitution. Whole plants of Curcuma species were collected in 2016 in the flowering season. Voucher specimens of the plants were authenticated from the National Herbarium, Peradeniya. Essential oils were extracted from Clevenger’s apparatus and analyzed separately by GC-MS. The analyses were carried out with RTX WAX capillary column. Sampling and experiments were done according to WHO guidelines. One hundred sixty four phytochemicals were analyzed by simple correspondence and by cluster variable method. By cluster varibale as per phytochemicals present, mainly two groups were identified. C. albiflora and C. oligantha were identified as one group and the rest of the three plants were kept in the other group. A total of 64 constituents of essential oil obtained from whole plant of C. albiflora were identified by GC-MS, where α-pinene (10.87 %), caryophyllene oxide (8.85 %), alcanfor (5.12 %), aromadendrene oxide-(1) (4.81 %), n-hexadecanoic acid (4.74 %), α-famesene (3.93 %), camphene (3.52 %), and isoborneol (3.4 %) were detected as major compounds. The essential oil of C. aromatica possesses 7–methanoazulene (13.75 %) and curcumene (25.71%). Caryophyllene (15.07%), phytol (13.38%), humulene (8.24%), elemene (6.11%), caryophyllene oxide (5.82%) were found in C. oligantha. This preliminary study has identified chemical markers present in all Curcuma species grown in Sri Lanka. Keywords: Curcuma species, essential oils, GC-MS, multivariate.