Advances in Extraction, Purification, and Identification of Curcumin

Abstract

Ankai Zhang

Curcumin is extensively utilized across industries, with diverse methodologies available for its extraction, purification, and identification—including organic solvent extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), macroporous resin adsorption, and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. This review summarized current approaches and identifies three optimal techniques: ionic liquid-integrated ultrasound-assisted enzymatic extraction (IL-UAE-EE) for isolation, macroporous resin coupling with thin-layer chromatography for purification, and direct analysis in real time-mass spectrometry (DART-MS) for rapid detection. Systematic optimization of these methods yields notable improvements: the IL-UAE-EE system significantly boosts extraction efficiency; macroporous resin-TLC coupling achieves curcumin purity up to 95.73%; and the DART-MS platform enables high-throughput quality control (QC) for industrial applications. Collectively, these technologies address critical limitations of curcumin processing—low extraction yields, purification challenges, and slow detection—thereby providing essential technical support for developing functional foods and anti-tumor pharmaceuticals.

PDF