The Department of Life Sciences at the College of Education, Qurna, University of Basra, discussed a master’s thesis by researcher Abbas Hadi Saleh entitled:
“Isolation, purification, and diagnosis of active compounds from the turmeric plant using HPLC, LCMS, and biological activity testing.”

The study aimed to find a safe, fast and low-cost method to isolate active compounds from the roots of the turmeric plant using HPLC technology, purify them with a high degree of purity of 99%, obtain appropriate quantities of the compounds after drying, then diagnose them using LCMS technology, in addition to testing their biological effectiveness.

The results showed that the method used for isolation and purification proved highly efficient, as pure and accurately diagnosed compounds were obtained. It also showed great effectiveness in inhibiting the growth of both types of pathogenic bacteria (both Gram-positive and Gram-negative) as well as fungi isolated from gynecological infections, in addition to their positive effect in inhibiting the growth of cancer cells.

The study confirmed that the results achieved could contribute to opening new horizons for scientific research and developing potential medicines to treat bacterial, fungal and cancerous diseases. It also recommended conducting further studies to isolate additional compounds from the alcoholic and aqueous extracts of the turmeric plant, and compare them, in addition to improving the sensitivity and accuracy of HPLC and LCMS techniques by using innovative phases and columns, and studying the effectiveness of these compounds in living models.