Combination of Extraction and Distillation Red Ginger Rhizome on the Composition of Active Compounds and Tyrosinase Inhibitory Activity

Abstract

In Indonesia, red Ginger is commonly used as traditional medicine and health drink. Its bioactive compounds are generally extracted separately in essential oils or oleoresin only. This study aims to maximize the extraction of red ginger rhizome bioactive compounds in the form of oleoresin and essential oil simultaneously and examine the effect of the different methods of extraction and distillation on the quality. The first method is essential oil extraction by water-steam distillation, continuing with oleoresin extraction of the ginger rhizome, while the second method is oleoresin extraction of fresh rhizome, continuing with distillation. The essential oil quality is determined based on the chemical composition and the tyrosinase enzyme inhibitory activity. The results showed that the essential oil produced by the second method contains higher zingiberene content (28.5%) with clear pale-yellow color, while the first method is orange with 15.4% zingiberene. The 6-gingerol, 8-gingerol, 6-shogaol, and 10-gingerol content of the oleoresin by the second method is higher than the first method. Furthermore, the inhibition test of two tyrosinase enzyme activities showed that the essential oil and extract from the two method is not significantly different. Thus, in addition to obtaining two extracts at once in the form of oleoresin and essential oil, this study also showed that the extraction process carried out before distillation of the rhizome could increase the yield of both extracts and increase the quality of red ginger essential oil.