Investigation of the interaction between curcumin and nucleic acids in the presence of CTAB

It is found that nucleic acid can enhance the resonance light scattering (RLS) enhancement effect of curcumin (CU) in the presence of cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The investigation indicates that in BR (pH 4.3) buffer, both the positive CTAB and negative yeast RNA (yRNA) combine and form a positive large association, then which is bound on the two carbon atoms of the carbonyls of CU through hydrogen bond and hydrophobic force and form CU-CTAB-yRNA ternary complex, resulting in the RLS enhancement of this system. Based on it, a sensitive method for determination of nucleic acids at ng ml−1 is established.