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Photocytotoxicity of Curcumin and its Iron Complex

Tukki Sarkar and Akhtar Hussain*

There is currently strong interest in curcumin and its metal complexes as potential photocytotoxic agents. Curcumin is a polyphenolic dye of root turmeric which can be isolated from the rhizome of the herb Curcuma longa. Curcumin is known to show a wide range of biological activities. It shows anticancer activity against a wide range of cancers. Unfortunately, it is unstable in aqueous medium and undergoes rapid hydrolytic degradation thereby severely limiting its usefulness as anticancer drug. In a recent work, we have shown that complexation to iron(III) ion arrests the hydrolytic instability of curcumin while retaining its photocytotoxic activity. Thus, a metal bound formulation of curcumin could be photochemotherapeutically more effective and successful than curcumin alone.