International Research Journal of Biological Sciences ___________________________________ ISSN 2278-3202 Vol. 2(5), 40-44, May (2013) Int. Res. J. Biological Sci. International Science Congress Association 40 DNA-binding Activity and Partial Characterization by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) of Curcuma longa L. SC-CO 2 Extracts Magdalene Mae L. Del Socorro*, Franco G. Teves and Ma. Reina Suzette B. Madamba Dept. of Biological Sciences, College of Science and Mathematics, MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology, Iligan City, PHILIPPINES Available online at: www.isca.in Received 13 th February 2013, revised 23 rd March 2013, accepted 20 th April 2013 Abstract Nowadays, an increasing interest in a number of plants for their medicinal properties had been shown by a large number of scientific studies conducted. Turmeric (Curcuma longa Linn.) is among those studied plants demonstrating potential medicinal properties. In this study, SC-CO 2 extracts of C. longa L. using a local variety were characterized and studied for their DNA-binding activity using the Biomolecular-chemical screening method. Results showed Rf-ratio values ranges from 0.50-0.83 which indicate the presence of compounds with strong to moderate affinity towards DNA. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy was employed for the detection and characterization of the compounds present in the extracts. FTIR results of C. longa L. extracts at 10MPa, 20MPa and 30MPa revealed almost the same high peak levels which indicate the presence of the same functional groups O-H stretching in phenols, -C-H stretching of alkanes and C=O stretch of carbonyl groups. Presence of these functional groups and DNA-binding affinity exhibited by C. longa L. towards DNA suggests that the plant has a potential pharmacological property. Keywords: Curcuma longa L., Biomolecular-chemical screening, DNA-binding affinity, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), SC-CO 2 extraction. Introduction Numerous studies demonstrated the preventive and curative properties of several plants to certain diseases. Diseases that could either be genetically inherited or those that are commonly caused by unhealthy lifestyle. However, the potential use of plants as a source of new drugs is still poorly explored of the estimated 250,000-500,000 plant species, only a small percentage has been investigated phytochemically and an even smaller percentage has been properly studied in terms of their pharmacological properties 1 . Turmeric (Curcuma longa Linn.) is among those significantly studied plants demonstrating potential medicinal properties. It is a low growing shrubby species in the family Zingiberaceae 2 . Turmeric is used as a food additive (spice), preservative and colouring agent in Asian countries, including China and South East Asia. It is also considered as auspicious and is a part of religious rituals. It has been used as an ethnomedicine from time immemorial in Ayurvedic system, in which practice of it for thousands of years has alleviated illnesses and attributed overall positive health 3 . In recent times, traditional Indian medicine uses turmeric powder for the treatment of biliary disorders, anorexia, cough, diabetic wounds and hepatic disorders 4 . Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) process is a rapidly developing method used to produce bioactive compounds by pure technology, under mild conditions. Unlike other extraction methods, long extraction time, low yield, toxic solvent residue, labour-intensive operation and degradation of thermo-sensitive compounds are avoided in SFE. The unique characteristic of this system is usage of gases above their critical point to extract selective soluble components from a raw material. Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is the most widely used solvent in SFE, since it is physiologically harmless, environmentally safe, non-explosive, and readily available and it can be easily removed from products. In recent years, several researchers studied the extraction of natural compounds from plant matrix by using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO 2 ) 5 . DNA-binding activity can be assessed using a screening strategy called the Biomolecular-chemical screening method. It is a novel approach which combines the chemical screening strategy with binding studies of biological relevance. It allows examining binding properties of low molecular weight metabolites to certain bio-macromolecules. Biomolecular- chemical screening method is useful to screen binding behavior towards DNA of both, pure metabolites by one-dimensional TLC, and crude extracts by two-dimensional TLC 6 . Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) is use to detect and characterize compounds present in plant extracts. It is a technique that uses the approach of metabolic fingerprinting to understand the composition, chemical structure and discrimination of biomolecules in medicinal plants. The technique was being successfully explored for the study of biological materials and eventually became an accepted tool for the characterization of biomolecules 7 . Due to the broad usage, displayed potential medicinal properties and accepted use of Curcuma longa L. in traditional medicine,