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Curcumin and Its Derivatives

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2024 | Viewed by 9100

Special Issue Editor

Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, via Campi, 103-41125 Modena, Italy
Interests: curcumin; metal-based drugs; PET-radiotracers; gallium-68; curcuminoids; NMR spectroscopy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last decades, the naturally occurring polyphenol curcumin has earned increased attention in view of its in vitro beneficial effects comprising antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer activities. Unfortunately, curcumin has poor water-solubility and bioavailability, drawbacks that hamper its great therapeutic properties and hold back its use in biomedical applications. This limit could be overcome by designing new methods of administration or by synthesizing novel daughter compounds with modified chemical structures. Curcumin and its derivatives also have applications in the development of new materials and chemical sensors.

In the last decade, there has been an increase in the number of published papers dealing with curcumin, indicating a bloom in research activity and attention from the scientific community to this topic.

In this landscape, this Special Issue of Molecules dedicated to “Curcumin and its derivatives” aims to collect the latest cutting-edge discoveries in the synthesis, characterization, theoretical calculations, delivery, and applications of curcumin-based compounds and materials.

Dr. Erika Ferrari
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • curcumin
  • curcuminoids
  • synthesis
  • drug delivery systems
  • theoretical calculations
  • hybrid materials
  • sensors

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 5189 KiB  
Article
Discovery of Novel Mono-Carbonyl Curcumin Derivatives as Potential Anti-Hepatoma Agents
by Weiya Cao, Pan Yu, Shilong Yang, Zheyu Li, Qixuan Zhang, Zengge Liu and Hongzhuo Li
Molecules 2023, 28(19), 6796; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28196796 - 25 Sep 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 946
Abstract
Curcumin possesses a wide spectrum of liver cancer inhibition effects, yet it has chemical instability and poor metabolic properties as a drug candidate. To alleviate these problems, a series of new mono-carbonyl curcumin derivatives G1–G7 were designed, synthesized, and evaluated by in vitro [...] Read more.
Curcumin possesses a wide spectrum of liver cancer inhibition effects, yet it has chemical instability and poor metabolic properties as a drug candidate. To alleviate these problems, a series of new mono-carbonyl curcumin derivatives G1–G7 were designed, synthesized, and evaluated by in vitro and in vivo studies. Compound G2 was found to be the most potent derivative (IC50 = 15.39 μM) compared to curcumin (IC50 = 40.56 μM) by anti-proliferation assay. Subsequently, molecular docking, wound healing, transwell, JC-1 staining, and Western blotting experiments were performed, and it was found that compound G2 could suppress cell migration and induce cell apoptosis by inhibiting the phosphorylation of AKT and affecting the expression of apoptosis-related proteins. Moreover, the HepG2 cell xenograft model and H&E staining results confirmed that compound G2 was more effective than curcumin in inhibiting tumor growth. Hence, G2 is a promising leading compound with the potential to be developed as a chemotherapy agent for hepatocellular carcinoma. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Curcumin and Its Derivatives)
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15 pages, 2484 KiB  
Article
13C CPMAS NMR as an Alternative Method to Verify the Quality of Dietary Supplements Containing Curcumin
by Paweł Siudem, Łukasz Szeleszczuk, Agnieszka Zielińska and Katarzyna Paradowska
Molecules 2023, 28(8), 3442; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28083442 - 13 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1418
Abstract
Turmeric is a traditional Indian spice that has recently become very popular worldwide because it contains a powerful ingredient called curcumin, which has strong anti-inflammatory properties. Hence, dietary supplements containing extracts rich in curcumin have gained great popularity. The main problems related to [...] Read more.
Turmeric is a traditional Indian spice that has recently become very popular worldwide because it contains a powerful ingredient called curcumin, which has strong anti-inflammatory properties. Hence, dietary supplements containing extracts rich in curcumin have gained great popularity. The main problems related to curcumin-containing dietary supplements are poor water solubility and the fact that they are often faked by using synthetic curcumin instead of the plant extract. In this article, we propose the use of the 13C CPMAS NMR method to control the quality of dietary supplements. The analysis of 13C CPMAS NMR spectra supported by GIPAW computations allowed us to identify a polymorphic form present in dietary supplements (which affected the solubility of curcumin) and to point out a dietary supplement that could be faked by using synthetic curcumin. Further PXRD and HPLC investigations confirmed that the examined supplement contained synthetic curcumin instead of the genuine extract. Our method can be used for routine control, especially because the investigation is performed directly from the capsule/tablet content and does not require any special sample preparation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Curcumin and Its Derivatives)
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Review

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27 pages, 1068 KiB  
Review
A Comprehensive Review on the Benefits and Problems of Curcumin with Respect to Human Health
by Siyu Liu, Jie Liu, Lan He, Liu Liu, Bo Cheng, Fangliang Zhou, Deliang Cao and Yingchun He
Molecules 2022, 27(14), 4400; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27144400 - 08 Jul 2022
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 6102
Abstract
Curcumin is the most important active component in turmeric extracts. Curcumin, a natural monomer from plants has received a considerable attention as a dietary supplement, exhibiting evident activity in a wide range of human pathological conditions. In general, curcumin is beneficial to human [...] Read more.
Curcumin is the most important active component in turmeric extracts. Curcumin, a natural monomer from plants has received a considerable attention as a dietary supplement, exhibiting evident activity in a wide range of human pathological conditions. In general, curcumin is beneficial to human health, demonstrating pharmacological activities of anti-inflammation and antioxidation, as well as antitumor and immune regulation activities. Curcumin also presents therapeutic potential in neurodegenerative, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. In this review article, we summarize the advancements made in recent years with respect to curcumin as a biologically active agent in malignant tumors, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), hematological diseases and viral infectious diseases. We also focus on problems associated with curcumin from basic research to clinical translation, such as its low solubility, leading to poor bioavailability, as well as the controversy surrounding the association between curcumin purity and effect. Through a review and summary of the clinical research on curcumin and case reports of adverse effects, we found that the clinical transformation of curcumin is not successful, and excessive intake of curcumin may have adverse effects on the kidneys, heart, liver, blood and immune system, which leads us to warn that curcumin has a long way to go from basic research to application transformation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Curcumin and Its Derivatives)
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