STUDY ON INFLUENCES OF SURFACTANTS TO PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CURCUMIN

Abstract

Curcumin is a natural substance possessing biological activities such as anti-microbial, anti-oxidant and anti-cancer activities. However, curcumin exhibits a low bioavailability because of its low solubility in aqueous solution and high degradation. In the previous study, micro curcumin beads were successful manufactured by ionotropic gelation method. In this study, the solubility and stability of curcumin were evaluated with the presence of surfactants. The results showed that the solubility of curcumin was highest in Solutol HS 15 3 g/L solution (511.99 ± 1.69 mg/L). Study on stability of curcumin displayed that the degradation of curcumin was strong in Solutol 3 g/L + PBS pH = 6.8 solution at 37°C, but weak in solutions of Solutol 3 g/L + PBS pH = 6.8 at 25°C and EtOH + PVP K30 + PBS pH = 6.8 at 25°C and 37°C. DSC analysis on micro curcumin beads resulted that the crystalline state was still appeared in S0, S3 and S8 beads due to the lack of Solutol HS 15 in the production of beads. In contrary, the melting peak of curcumin powder dissapeared in S15 beads which could be explained by the complete transformation of curcumin from crystalline state to amorphous state due to the interaction between curcumin and Solutol HS 15 and pectin. So, adding Solutol HS 15 15 g/L during the manufacturing of micro curcumin beads was very important in order to enhance the solubility and stability of curcumin from the beads in aqueous solution.