Characterization of Curcumin from Curcuma purpurascens Blume and Test of Its Activity as Antioxidant and Antilipase

Curcuma purpurascens Blume is a plant in the family Zingiberaceae and known as temu blenyeh. This plant has been used as a medicinal plant but there is still little research and not much has been reported about its chemical components. The research aimed to isolate and characterize the chemical components of the rhizomes of C. purpurascens and test its activity as an antioxidant and antilipase. The ethanol extract of temu blenyeh (C. purpurascens Blume) underwent antioxidant activity-guided purification using vacuum liquid chromatography to obtain pure compounds. The antioxidant activity test used the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1picrylhydrazyl) method, while the antilipase activity was tested by pancreatic lipase inhibition assay. The antioxidant activity (IC50) results showed that ascorbic acid (5.83±0.18µg/mL) was significantly more potent than EE (55.501±0.36µg/mL), EASF (44.46±0.28µg/mL), and isolate 1 (71.31±0.22µg/mL), whereas EASF was significantly more potent than isolate 1. The antilipase activity (IC50) results showed that orlistat (9.23 ±0.75µg/mL) was significantly more potent than EE (117.86±10.72µg/mL), EASF (59.58 ±8.58µg/mL), and isolate 1 (54.79 ±5.59µg/mL), whereas there was no significant difference between EASF and isolate 1. Curcumin (yellow-orange powder form) was identified from the ethyl acetate fraction of C. purpurascens rhizomes as isolate 1 using UV-Vis, IR, UPLC-MSMS, 1D-NMR, and 2D-NMR analysis. © © 2025 by Indonesian Journal of Pharmacy (IJP).