Essential oils (EOs) comprised of various bioactive compounds have been widely detected in the Curcuma species. Due to the widespread distribution and misidentification of Curcuma species and differences in processing methods, inconsistent reports on major compounds in rhizomes of the same species from different geographical regions are not uncommon. This inconsistency leads to confusion and inaccuracy in compound detection of each species and also hinders comparative study based on EO compositions. The present study aimed to characterize EO compositions of 12 Curcuma species, as well as to detect the compositional variation among different species, and between the plant specimens and their related genetically validated crude drug samples using headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The plant specimens of the same species showed similar EO patterns, regardless of introducing from different geographical sources. Based on the similarity of EO compositions, all the specimens and samples were separated into eight main groups: C. longa; C. phaeocaulis, C. aeruginosa and C. zedoaria; C. zanthorrhiza; C. aromatica and C. wenyujin; C. kwangsiensis; C. amada and C. mangga; C. petiolata; C. comosa. From EOs of all the specimens and samples, 54 major compounds were identified, and the eight groups were chemically characterized. Most of the major compounds detected in plant specimens were also observed in crude drug samples, although a few compounds converted or degraded due to processing procedures or over time. Orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis allowed the marker compounds to discriminate each group or each species to be identified.

姜黄属植物中广泛检测到由各种生物活性化合物组成的精油 (EO) 。由于姜黄属植物的广泛分布和误认以及加工方法的差异，不同地理区域的同一物种根茎中主要化合物的报道不一致的情况并不少见。这种不一致导致每个物种的化合物检测混乱和不准确，也阻碍了基于 EO 成分的比较研究。本研究旨在表征 12 种姜黄的 EO 成分物种，以及使用顶空固相微萃取结合气相色谱-质谱法检测不同物种之间以及植物标本与其相关的经遗传验证的生药样品之间的组成差异。同一物种的植物标本显示出相似的 EO 模式，无论从不同的地理来源引入。基于 EO 成分的相似性，所有标本和样品分为八个主要组：C. longa；C. phaeocaulis、C. aeruginosa和C. zedoaria；C. zanthorrhiza ; C. aromatica和C. wenyujin；C. kwangsiensis ;C. amada和C. mangga；C. petiolata ; C. comosa。从所有标本和样品的 EO 中，鉴定出 54 种主要化合物，并对八组化合物进行了化学表征。在植物标本中检测到的大多数主要化合物也在生药样品中观察到，尽管一些化合物由于加工程序或随着时间的推移而发生转化或降解。正交偏最小二乘判别分析允许标记化合物区分每个组或每个待识别的物种。