Abstract
The stability of curcumin and some of its derivatives in terms of diketo/enol tautomerism was studied in a number of solvents by means of standard density functional theory calculations. The ratio of diketo to enol forms has been investigated in the studied solvents. The active sites for deprotonation of curcumin in different liquid solutions were also investigated in order to explore the acidic properties of curcumin. The solvent presents a dominant role on the acidic property of curcumin so that the hydrogen of the enolic hydroxyl group is more acidic in ethanol and water, but the hydrogen of the phenolic hydroxyl group is more acidic in other studied solvents. It has also been revealed that the radical derived from the phenolic hydroxyl group is much more stable than the radical derived from the enolic hydroxyl group. Calculations also show that the abilities of other derivatives to scavenge free radicals are comparable with curcumin in all of the studied liquid solutions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
D’Archivio, M., Filesi, C., Varì, R., Scazzocchio, B., Masella, R.: Bioavailability of the polyphenols: status and controversies. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 11, 1321–1342 (2010)
Wojdyło, A., Oszmiański, J., Czemerys, R.: Antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds in 32 selected herbs. Food Chem. 105, 940–949 (2007)
Erez, Y., Presiado, I., Gepshtein, R., Huppert, D.: Temperature dependence of the fluorescence properties of curcumin. J. Phys. Chem. A 115, 10962–10971 (2011)
Ferrari, E., Asti, M., Benassi, R., Pignedoli, F., Saladini, M.: Metal binding ability of curcumin derivatives: a theoretical vs. experimental approach. J. Chem. Soc. Dalton Trans. 42, 5304–5313 (2013)
Dairam, A., Limson, J.L., Watkins, G.M., Antunes, E., Daya, S.: Curcuminoids, curcumin, and demethoxycurcumin reduce lead-induced memory deficits in male Wistar rats. J. Agric. Food Chem. 55, 1039–1044 (2007)
Aggarwal, B.B., Kumar, A., Bharti, A.C.: Anticancer potential of curcumin: preclinical and clinical studies. Anticancer Res. 23, 363–398 (2003)
Wilken, R., Veena, M.S., Wang, M.B., Srivatsan, E.S.: Curcumin: A review of anti-cancer properties and therapeutic activity in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Mol. Cancer 10, 1–19 (2011)
Ye, M.-X., Li, Y., Yin, H., Zhang, J.: Curcumin: updated molecular mechanisms and intervention targets in human lung cancer. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 13, 3959–3978 (2012)
Salem, M., Rohani, S., Gillies, E.R.: Curcumin, a promising anti-cancer therapeutic: A review of its chemical properties, bioactivity and approaches to cancer cell delivery. RSC Adv. 4, 10815–10829 (2014)
Wang, P., Su, C., Li, R., Wang, H., Ren, Y., Sun, H., Yang, J., Sun, J., Shi, J., Tian, J.: Mechanisms and effects of curcumin on spatial learning and memory improvement in APPswe/PS1dE9 mice. J. Neurosci. Res. 92, 218–231 (2014)
Xiong, Z., Hongmei, Z., Lu, S., Yu, L.: Curcumin mediates presenilin-1 activity to reduce β-amyloid production in a model of Alzheimer’s disease. Pharmacol. Rep. 63, 1101–1108 (2011)
Yang, I.-S., Jin, S.-M., Kang, J.-H., Ramanathan, V., Kim, H.-M., Suh, Y.-D., Kim, S.-K.: Excited state dynamics of curcumin and solvent hydrogen bonding. Bull. Korean Chem. Soc. 32, 3090–3093 (2011)
Ghosh, R., Mondal, J.A., Palit, D.K.: Ultrafast dynamics of the excited states of curcumin in solution. J. Phys. Chem. B 114, 12129–12143 (2010)
Payton, F., Sandusky, P., Alworth, W.L.: NMR study of the solution structure of curcumin. J. Nat. Prod. 70, 143–146 (2007)
Kolev, T.M., Velcheva, E.A., Stamboliyska, B.A., Spiteller, M.: DFT and experimental studies of the structure and vibrational spectra of curcumin. Int. J. Quantum Chem. 102, 1069–1079 (2005)
Kawano, S.-I., Inohana, Y., Hashi, Y., Lin, J.-M.: Analysis of keto-enol tautomers of curcumin by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Chin. Chem. Lett. 24, 685–687 (2013)
Bertolasi, V., Ferretti, V., Gilli, P., Yao, X., Li, C.-J.: Substituent effects on keto–enol tautomerization of β-diketones from X-ray structural data and DFT calculations. New J. Chem. 32, 694–704 (2008)
Lee, W.-H., Loo, C.-Y., Bebawy, M., Luk, F., Mason, R.S., Rohanizadeh, R.: Curcumin and its derivatives: their application in neuropharmacology and neuroscience in the 21st century. Curr. Neuropharmacol. 11, 338–378 (2013)
Cornago, P., Claramunt, R.M., Bouissane, L., Alkorta, I., Elguero, J.: A study of the tautomerism of β-dicarbonyl compounds with special emphasis on curcuminoids. Tetrahedron 64, 8089–8094 (2008)
Benassi, R., Ferrari, E., Lazzari, S., Spagnolo, F., Saladini, M.: Theoretical study on curcumin: a comparison of calculated spectroscopic properties with NMR, UV–vis and IR experimental data. J. Mol. Struct. 892, 168–176 (2008)
Zhao, X.-Z., Jiang, T., Wang, L., Yang, H., Zhang, S., Zhou, P.: Interaction of curcumin with Zn(II) and Cu(II) ions based on experiment and theoretical calculation. J. Mol. Struct. 984, 316–325 (2010)
Naama, J.H., Alwan, G.H., Obayes, H.R., Al-Amiery, A.A., Al-Temimi, A.A., Kadhum, A.A.H., Mohamad, A.B.: Curcuminoids as antioxidants and theoretical study of stability of curcumin isomers in gaseous state. Res. Chem. Intermed. 39, 4047–4059 (2013)
Manolova, Y., Deneva, V., Antonov, L., Drakalska, E., Momekova, D., Lambov, N.: The effect of the water on the curcumin tautomerism: a quantitative approach. Spectrochim. Acta A 132, 815–820 (2014)
Dutta, A., Boruah, B., Saikia, P.M., Dutta, R.K.: Stabilization of diketo tautomer of curcumin by premicellar cationic surfactants: a spectroscopic, tensiometric and TD-DFT study. J. Mol. Liq. 187, 350–358 (2013)
Heger, M., van Golen, R.F., Broekgaarden, M., Michel, M.C.: The molecular basis for the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of curcumin and its metabolites in relation to cancer. Pharmacol. Rev. 66, 222–307 (2014)
Benassi, E., Spagnolo, F.: A combined theoretical and experimental approach to the study of the structural and electronic properties of curcumin as a function of the solvent. J. Solution Chem. 39, 11–29 (2010)
Lü, J.M., Lin, P.H., Yao, Q., Chen, C.: Chemical and molecular mechanisms of antioxidants: experimental approaches and model systems. J. Cell Mol. Med. 14, 840–860 (2010)
Priyadarsini, K.I., Maity, D.K., Naik, G., Kumar, M.S., Unnikrishnan, M., Satav, J., Mohan, H.: Role of phenolic OH and methylene hydrogen on the free radical reactions and antioxidant activity of curcumin. Free Radic. Biol. Med. 35, 475–484 (2003)
Barzegar, A.: The role of electron-transfer and H-atom donation on the superb antioxidant activity and free radical reaction of curcumin. Food Chem. 135, 1369–1376 (2012)
Chen, C., Xue, H., Mu, S.: pH dependence of reactive sites of curcumin possessing antioxidant activity and free radical scavenging ability studied using the electrochemical and ESR techniques: polyaniline used as a source of the free radical. J. Electroanal. Chem. 713, 22–27 (2014)
Ferrari, E., Benassi, R., Sacchi, S., Pignedoli, F., Asti, M., Saladini, M.: Curcumin derivatives as metal-chelating agents with potential multifunctional activity for pharmaceutical applications. J. Inorg. Biochem. 139, 38–48 (2014)
Curtiss, L.A., Redfern, P.C., Raghavachari, K.: Gaussian-4 theory. J. Chem. Phys. 126, 084108–084119 (2007)
Červinka, C., Fulem, M., Růžička, K.T.: Evaluation of accuracy of ideal-gas heat capacity and entropy calculations by density functional theory (DFT) for rigid molecules. J. Chem. Eng. Data 57, 227–232 (2011)
Quintal, M.M., Karton, A., Iron, A., Boese, A.D., Martin, J.M.: Benchmark study of DFT functionals for late-transition-metal reactions. J. Phys. Chem. A 110, 709–716 (2006)
Marenich, A.V., Cramer, C.J., Truhlar, D.G.: Universal solvation model based on solute electron density and on a continuum model of the solvent defined by the bulk dielectric constant and atomic surface tensions. J. Phys. Chem. B 113, 6378–6396 (2009)
Frisch, M.J., Trucks, G.W., Schlegel, H.B., Scuseria, G.E., Robb, M.A., Cheeseman, J.R., Scalmani, G., Barone, V., Mennucci, B., Petersson, G. A., Nakatsuji, H., Caricato, M., Li, X., Hratchian, H.P., Izmaylov, A.F., Bloino, J., Zheng, G., Sonnenberg, J.L., Hada, M., Ehara, M., Toyota, K., Fukuda, R., Hasegawa, J., Ishida, M., Nakajima, T., Honda, Y., Kitao, O., Nakai, H., Vreven, T., Montgomery, J.A., Jr., Peralta, J.E., Ogliaro, F., Bearpark, M., Heyd, J.J., Brothers, E., Kudin, K.N., Staroverov, V.N., Kobayashi, R., Normand, J., Raghavachari, K., Rendell, A., Burant, J.C., Iyengar, S.S., Tomasi, J., Cossi, M., Rega, N., Millam, J.M., Klene, M., Knox, J.E., Cross, J.B., Bakken, V., Adamo, C., Jaramillo, J., Gomperts, R., Stratmann, R.E., Yazyev, O., Austin, A.J., Cammi, R., Pomelli, C., Ochterski, J.W., Martin, R.L., Morokuma, K., Zakrzewski, V.G., Voth, G.A., Salvador, P., Dannenberg, J.J., Dapprich, S., Daniels, A.D., Farkas, O., Foresman, J.B., Ortiz, J.V., Cioslowski, J., Fox, D.J.: Gaussian 09, Revision A.02, vol. 19. Gaussian, Inc., Wallingford, (2009)
McQuarrie, D.A.: Statistical Thermodynamics. HarperCollins Publishers, New York (1973)
Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge generous allocations of computing time from the Australian National Computational Infrastructure. SA thanks the Yazd University graduate school for a Doctoral fellowship. MN appreciates the Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, for providing him a visiting fellowship to join Prof. M. L. Coote’s research group.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Anjomshoa, S., Namazian, M. & Noorbala, M.R. The Effect of Solvent on Tautomerism, Acidity and Radical Stability of Curcumin and Its Derivatives Based on Thermodynamic Quantities. J Solution Chem 45, 1021–1030 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10953-016-0481-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10953-016-0481-y