Hi,

Curcumin does not dissolve in water at neutral pH and RT.

If you must use water as your solvent, try the age old technique of heating the mixture of the solute and solvent, say up to 70-80 deg C; boiling will not harm the molecule though. Filter the heterogenous mixture to get a homogenous solution of curcumin in water.

I must warn you that the concentration of the filterate is extremely minimal.

Hope the attached paper would help you further. All the best with your experiments!

Article Temperature-Dependent Spectroscopic Evidences of Curcumin in...

It depends on the application and the pH. At acidic or neutral pH it is insoluble (or rather less soluble) - it also depends on what concentration you are trying to achieve. What are you trying to use it for?

Based on my experience, olive oil is the best solvent even you can try alcohol too.

Curcumin is sparingly soluble in water, it may go into alcohol

It is water insoluble, mostly at 7 and acidic.

Do try in oil medium

It would be impossible to dissolve(solution) completely because of cellulose content present in curcumin powder.

You may make a suspension of curcumin by mixing fine ground curcummin with water and add some polyehtelen glycol(PEG) at vrious concentration to increase the viscosisty. Always use the blank solution(PEG and wtaer) as experimental control.

If you are more interested in active ingredients then then I would suggest solvent extraction. For that make a mix of organic solvent(diethyl ether, ethanol and water) and incubate it for some days(Try different solvent) Keep the track of solvent combination. Perform vacuum drying and you will get dry powder dried powder and dissolve it in DMSO.

You may use it for you experiment.

Keep in mind that some active ingredient may not be soluble in a particular solvent.

Good luck

I agree with Dr. Purnachanandra as DMSO is a good solvent and leaves no precipitate after solving. We tried it in our lab and we were successful.

Curcumin is soluble in organic solvents such as acetone, ethanol, DMSO and diemethylformamide. The solubility of curcumin in these solvents is approximately 1mg/ml and in acetone it is at least 20 mg/ml.

So I would not suggest water as a solvent for in vivo administration. DMSO and ethanol can serve ur purpose. Alternatively you can make a suspension using Tween-80 in water for p.o. administration.

Curcumin won't be soluble in any of the administerable solvents (ethanol/methanol/acetone et al.) for in vivo dosing p.o. For the same reason, the best you can do is form a suspension and administer it. You can use 0.1% Carboxy methyl cellulose as vehicle.i.e something we are regularly using in our lab.

DMSO - Dimethyl sulfoxide is known to be the universal solvent... and curcumin also seems to be soluble in organic solvents like ethanol, acetone and CCl4

Thank you for your replies .but i want to know if it is must to use water suspension of curcumin .how i can use water without any additive

Tetrahydrocurcuminoids hygrophobic that cannot be reasily dissolved in water and lack oral bioavailability. Hence the push to trial nano-curcumin which can also be patented as it does not occur in nature - this if of therapeutic/preventative utility could be commercialized. N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) has many antioxidant properties and is readily water soluble/bioavailable including into the CNS a cysteine is transported across the blood brain barrier. Thus, NAC is a more logical agent to study, but lack of patentability reduced commercial utility thus less funds to study it for a plethora of oxidative stress mediated conditions.

Hi,

Curcumin does not dissolve in water at neutral pH and RT.

If you must use water as your solvent, try the age old technique of heating the mixture of the solute and solvent, say up to 70-80 deg C; boiling will not harm the molecule though. Filter the heterogenous mixture to get a homogenous solution of curcumin in water.

I must warn you that the concentration of the filterate is extremely minimal.

Hope the attached paper would help you further. All the best with your experiments!

Article Temperature-Dependent Spectroscopic Evidences of Curcumin in...

HI

what would be the best solvent for curcumin as i have to administer it orally in mice.

I am using curcumin for enzyme inhibition studies. Indeed, it is sparingly soluble in water. Its solution gives 0.088 absorbance at 420 nm after a spin at 11,000 rpm. What is the amount corresponding to 0.088 abs, does anyone has answer for this. I appriciate

Does hydroxylation of curcumin molecule by any external compound (say H2O2) will effect on solubility???

Curcumin appears to have a variable solubility in ethanol. A slight heating of curcumin-ethanol solution could increase its solubility.

Hello,

In regards to the topic on the solubility of Circumin. 

Has anyone used it in DMSO for use in-vitro culture of protozoan parasites?  

Dear colleagues, 

I also have question regardin' the solubility of curcumin, and I would be very greatfull for any sort of advice or answer.

I am investigating the sinergism of curcumin and statins, and I was wondering which would be the best solvent for mixture of those two. As curcumin is poorly soluble in water, what about MeOH or DMSO or something else ? 

Thank You :)))))))))

Curcumin her ne kadar yapısında OH grubu bulunsada CH3O- grubuda var ve konjugasyonu büyük bir molekül o nedenle sıcak suda biraz çözünür soğuması ile çöker. Metanolde az çözünüp rengi turuncuya kayıyor tautomediden dolayı , en iyi THF de çözünüyor, acık sarı

bende CURCUMİN ile bu ara çalışıyorum 

iyi günler dileklerimle

Fatma AYDIN

I have dissolved curcumin in DMSO at concentrations as high as 20 mM. It forms a darkish yellow solution with no visible signs of precipitation or other phase separation.

However, I make a fresh stock solution every time I need to use it because the solution becomes more transparent over time. 

Attached photo -

• Top: 20 mM curcumin in DMSO after 2 weeks. 
• Bottom: 20 mM curcumin in DMSO immediately after preparation 

plz, I I want to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of curcumin  ? which solvent and which suitable concentration can I use?

Dear Amal ,

Fortunately, curcumin dissolves in a number of solvents: you can just make a choice best for you: In ethanol, 10mg/ml, in DMSO, 25mg/ml, in acetone and water < 0.1mg/ml.  I have personally used DMSO starting with a 10mM stock solution and it dissolved fine in the subsequent media used.

Many thanks my dear

Can anybody help with the exact solubility of curcumin in water at room temp.

i would like to know if there is any protocol to make curcumin soluble in cold water

Those that have been interested at this discussion may possibly want to check also: https://www.researchgate.net/post/is_gum_acaia_as_a_safe_solvent_to_dissolve_curcumin_for_oral_administration_in_albino_rat

curcumin dissolve in low quantity in water but you can by increase pH improve its water solubility. however, in this case, curcumin stability significantly reduced.

by using organic solvent such as DMSO, methanol, acetone, chloroform,... you can dissolve more curcmin in solution respectively.

THF, tetrahydrofurane

metal- curcumin complexes are more soluble than curcumin

Article Curcumin–Zn(II) complex for enhanced solubility and stabilit...

Curcumin is the amazing active compound that is found within the turmeric rhizome (curcuma longaCurcuma longa). It has long been used as treatment in traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicines.

Curcumin is a yellow pigment and the major active component present in the spice turmeric (Curcuma longaCurcuma longa) that has been associated with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antiviral, and antibacterial activities.

To enhance the solubility of curcuminoids (curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bis-demethoxycurcumin), several approaches such as chemical derivatisation, complexation and interaction with macromolecules (e.g. gelatin, cyclodextrin, polysaccharides, and protein) have been reported but not so successful yet.

Curcumin's biggest challenge is bioavailability. Without it you're just wasting your money.

>> Native curcuminoids have poor oral bioavailability

Bioavailability is the amount of a substance that actually enters your bloodstream so you get the health benefits you're looking for.

>> Poor aqueous solubility and low stability

Poorly absorbed, rapidly metabolised, and excreted by the body - making bioavailability a major issue.

OUR SOLUTION

We can solve the problem. We developed nanoconverging strategies:

>> Nanonisation

>> Stabilisation

to obtain water soluble nanocurcumins from nanocellulose and turmeric root.

Nanocellulose Pickering emulsion (NCPE) is a silver bullet for a practical drug delivery system.

According to German scientists' findings(2014), micellar solubilisation increases the AUC of the lead curcuminoid curcumin 88-fold.

Alexa Kochera, Christina Schiborra, Dariush Behnamb, and Jan Franka

a Institute of Biological Chemistry and Nutrition, University of Hohenheim, Garbenstr. 28, D-70599 Stuttgart, Germany

b AQUANOVA AG, Birkenweg 8-10, D-64295 Darmstadt, Germany

Highlights

1) Native curcuminoids have poor oral bioavailability

2) Pharmacokinetics of curcuminoid formulations were studied in healthy humans

3) Intake of native curcuminoids with phytochemicals slightly improves bioavailability

4) Micellar solubilisation increases the AUC of the lead curcuminoid curcumin 88-fold

5) Curcumin micelles combined with phytochemicals do not further enhance bioavailability

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756464615000493

You can use pH-shift method for enhancing the aqueous solubility of curcumin.

Temperature-dependent spectroscopic evidences of curcumin in aqueous medium: A mechanistic study of its solubility and stability

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233803241_Temperature-Dependent_Spectroscopic_Evidences_of_Curcumin_in_Aqueous_Medium_A_Mechanistic_Study_of_Its_Solubility_and_Stability

Curcumin practically is not soluble in water, but slightly soluble in methanol and very slightly soluble in Ethanol. Solubility in ethanol (10 mg/ml).