The Essential Medicinal Chemistry of Curcumin

Kathryn M. Nelson, Jayme L. Dahlin, Jonathan Bisson, James Graham, Guido F. Pauli, Michael A. Walters

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1542 Scopus citations

Abstract

Curcumin is a constituent (up to ∼5%) of the traditional medicine known as turmeric. Interest in the therapeutic use of turmeric and the relative ease of isolation of curcuminoids has led to their extensive investigation. Curcumin has recently been classified as both a PAINS (pan-assay interference compounds) and an IMPS (invalid metabolic panaceas) candidate. The likely false activity of curcumin in vitro and in vivo has resulted in >120 clinical trials of curcuminoids against several diseases. No double-blinded, placebo controlled clinical trial of curcumin has been successful. This manuscript reviews the essential medicinal chemistry of curcumin and provides evidence that curcumin is an unstable, reactive, nonbioavailable compound and, therefore, a highly improbable lead. On the basis of this in-depth evaluation, potential new directions for research on curcuminoids are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1620-1637
Number of pages18
JournalJournal of medicinal chemistry
Volume60
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 9 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 American Chemical Society.

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