Synthesis And Bioactivity Evaluation Of Curcumin Derivatives

Curcuma longa L., named turmeric, is a perennial herbaceous plant of India origin commonly used in Asiatic cultures for several hundred years, well known for its colouring, flavouring and digestive properties. As the development of sci-technology, the function of turmeric had been beyond traditional medicine known by human beings. Its main component is curcumin, as known as diferuloylmethane, one of the active ingredients responsible for its biological activity. It has been confirmed that the main components were curcumin analogues (Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ), and a variety of biological and pharmacological properties such as antitumour and acticancer activeties were reported, including antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic and anti-HIV. The desirable cancer perventive or putative therapeutic properties of curcumin have also been considered to be associated with its antioxidant properties, since free radical mediated peroxidation of membrane lipids and oxidative damage of DNA are belived to be associated with a variety of chronic health problems, such as cancer, atherosclerosis, neurodegenerative diseases and aging. Therefore, the past few years have witnessed intense research devoted to the antioxidant activity of curcumin. Curcumin has recently received considerable attention of chemists and pharmcolists around of the world due to the above bioactivities.So many studies of sturcture-activity relationships of curcumin analogues have been reported. It is known that the structure of curcumin is very similar to diarylheptanoids. The anti-inflammatory activity of curcumin and its derivatives was attributed to the hydroxyl and phenol groups in the molecule, which are also essential for the inhibition of prostaglandins PG synthetase and leucotriened synthesis (LT). It was suggested that the anti-inflammatory action is associated with the β-dicarbonylic system, which has the conjugated double bonds (dienes). This system seems to be responsible not only for anti-inflammatory, but also to antiparasitic activity.