Spectroscopic Study on the Interaction of Medicinal Pigment, Curcumin with Various Surfactants: An Overview

Curcumin (C₂₁H₂₀O₆), a natural antioxidant is the active ingredient of turmeric powder and is well documented for centuries for its medicinal properties owing to the treatment of a variety of inflammatory conditions and other diseases in Indian and Chinese systems of medicine. Curcumin is poorly water soluble. Recently, different micellar systems have been used for the incorporation of curcumin over a wide range of pH values to investigate its solubility and stability with the help of spectroscopic techniques. Curcumin is also used as a probe for the determination of the critical micellar concentrations of different amphiphiles spectroscopically. This pigment behaves in a different way depending on the type of the micelles and pH of the medium. This review summarizes all such investigations.