Chemical Components and Biological Effects of Ethanol Extract from Curcuma vinhlinhensis

Curcuma vinhlinhensis is a recent novel species in Vietnam. In this study, the chemical composition of ethanol extract of leaf and rhizome from C. vinhlinhensis was first analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and then 13 and 22 chemical compounds were found to be present in the two extracts, respectively. The ethanol leaf extract contained 36.57% of (E)-labda-8(17),12-diene-15,16-dial, 13.17% of octacosane, 8.63% of n-hexadecanoic acid, 7.16% of neophytadiene, 6.55% hexacosane, and other compounds in small amount (< 5%). Meanwhile, the ethanol rhizome extract contained predominantly (E)-labda-8(17),12-diene-15,16-dial (64.82%), copaene (5.33%), and other compounds (< 5%). Both extracts from leaf and rhizome displayed antibacterial activity against tested bacterial pathogens including Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter hormaechei, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella typhimurium, and Shigella flexneri. The antioxidant property displayed by radical scavenging activity on DPPH and ABTS has also been reported. The IC50 value of DPPH radical scavenging activity was 729.88 ± 46.54 µg/ mL and 1666.01 ± 134.16 µg/mL for rhizome extract and leaf extract, respectively. Additionally, IC50 value of ABTS radical scavenging activity was 257.04 ± 13.89 µg/mL for rhizome extract and 424.61 ± 24.721 µg/mL for leaf extract. These results have shown that the ethanol extract of C. vinhlinhensis could potentially be used for pharmaceutical applications and product development.