Differentiation of Temulawak, Kunyit, and Bangle Species Based on Resolution Pattern of Compounds by Thin Layer Chromatography

Abstract

Differentiation of herbal medicine is very important to authentication test of raw materials and adulteration detection. Temulawak, kunyit, and bangle are herbs which are required in large scale. These plants are usually sold in powder form, so it would be difficult to differentiate them visually. Thus, a differentiation method to evaluate chemical composition of these three plants must be found. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) is a method frequently used for differentiation of herbs. The results showed that the best eluent for doing separation of the chemical compound content of the sample was dichloromethane:chloroform = 32.5:67.5. This eluent was used to separate chemical compounds of herbs on TLC plates. The specific compounds were found differently on TLC plates. TLC results with visible light and ultraviolet detection at a wavelength of 254 and 366 nm indicated that each of the eight areas of medicinal plants in Java has a content characterized by the same band. Based on the characteristic band, temulawak contain two major components of curcuminoids, namely curcumin (Rf 0.4) and demethoxycurcumin (Rf 0.16), kunyit contains three major components namely curcumin (Rf 0.4), demethoxycurcumin (Rf 0.16), and bisdemethoxycurcumin (Rf 0.06), while the bangle contains curcumin (Rf 0.4) and other compounds with Rf 0.6 and Rf 0.31.