19 Advanced technologies CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF THE TURMERIC ESSENTIAL OIL (Curcuma longa L.) Jelena S. Stanojević, Ljiljana P. Stanojević*, Dragan J. Cvetković, Bojana R. Danilović Faculty of Technology, Leskovac, Serbia In the present work, essential oil has been obtained by Clevenger-type hy- drodestillation from grounded curcuma rhizome (Rhizoma Curcumae) (Turkey) with hydromodulus 1:5 m/V during 180 minutes. The qualitative and quantita- tive composition of the oil was determined by GC-MS and GC-FID spectrom- etry. The antioxidant activity of the obtained oil was determined using DPPH assay just after adding DPPH radical and after 20 min, 30 min and 45 min incubation with radical. The antimicrobial activity was determined using a disc- difusion method. The yield of the essential oil was 0.3 cm 3 / 100 g plant ma- terial. Eight compounds were identifed. The major ones were ar-turmerone (22.7%), turmerone (26%) and curlone (16.8%). The best antioxidant activity showed the oil incubated for 45 minutes with DPPH radical. EC50 values for the obtained oil were 1.784 mg/cm 3 (without incubation), 0.098 mg/cm 3 (af- ter 20 minutes), 0.072 mg/cm 3 (after 30 minutes) and 0.045 mg/cm 3 (after 45 minutes incubation with radical). The oil showed the best antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans. The results indicate that turmeric essential oil is an extremely strong antioxidant and antimicrobial (antifungal) agent with potential application in the food and pharmaceutical industries as a safer alternative to the synthetic antioxidants and antimicrobial agents. Keywords: Curcuma longa L., Clevenger hy- drodistillation, Antioxidant activity, Antimicrobial activity, GC-MS Introduction Essential oils are complex mixtures of secondary plant metabolites. They are highly concentrated, volatile, oily dis- tillates. Essential oils are found in all plant parts (fowers, barks, roots, leaves, peels, seeds) due to the activity of en- dogenous and exogenous secretory plant tissues. Among many other methods, essential oils could be obtained by hydrodistillation, steam, water/steam distillation, expres- sion and extraction with supercritical carbon dioxide [1,2]. Owing to their aroma, odor and a plethora of benefcial ef- fects, they are widely used in perfumes, cosmetics, aroma- therapy and nutrition [3,4]. Curcuma longa L., also known as curcuma (turmeric, in- dian shafron, golden Goddess) is a perennial herbaceous aromatic plant from the ginger family (Zingiberaceae). It is assumed that turmeric originated in China, and Buddhist monks or Chinese migration brought it to the Indian sub- continent. Anyway, turmeric is nowadays cultivated in Asian countries (Bangladesh, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines) and some parts of South America (Peru and Bolivia) but India still remains the larg- est producer, consumer and exporter [5]. The plant has yel- low fowers and reaches a height of about 1 m. The under- ground rhizome is yellowish, consisting of two main parts: the egg-shaped (mother) rhizome and the long cylindrical, branched primary, secondary and even tertiary rhizomes [6,7]. Turmeric rhizome contains two major classes of secondary metabolites: phenolic curcuminoids and es- sential oil [8]. These metabolites are largely responsi- ble for the pharmacological efects of turmeric [9]. The composition of the both metabolites depends on a geno- type, the environment, harvest season, dry process and storage conditions [10]. Curcuminoids are responsible for the yellow color of the turmeric, and the essential oil that it contains for its aroma and taste [7,11]. The major and the most studied curcuminoid found in turmeric is curcumin, which is recognized as the most responsible compound for the majority of benefcial efects which this miraculous plant exhibits. Besides curcumin, there are two more curcuminoids: demetoxycurcumin and bisdem- etoxycurcumin [12]. The essential oil could be obtained from fresh [9,13,14] and dry leaves [15,16], fresh fowers [16], dry roots [16] and fresh [9,13,17] and dry rhizomes [16,18] of turmeric. Dried rhizomes and leaves are used for the essential oil extraction in the industry. Rhizomes (despite the fact that they contain a higher amount of ac- tive compounds in comparison to other plant parts) [13] have a higher oil content than leaves, 5-6% vs. 1-1.5%, respectively [7]. The essential oils from leaves and fow- ers are dominated by monoterpenes while those from roots and rhizomes primarily contained sesquiterpenes (ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC PAPER) UDC 633.8:665.5:66.048.6 *Author address: Ljiljana Stanojević, Faculty of Technology, Bulevar oslobodjenja 124, 16000 Leskovac, Serbia E-mail: ljiljas76@yahoo.com The manuscript received: July, 07, 2015. Paper accepted: September, 18, 2015 4(2) (2015) 19-25