Antioxidant and radical scavenging properties of curcumin

Curcumin (diferuoyl methane) is a phenolic compound and a major component of Curcuma longa L. In the present paper, we determined the antioxidant activity of curcumin by employing various in vitro antioxidant assays such as 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl free radical (DPPH) scavenging, 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activity, N,N-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine dihydrochloride (DMPD) radical scavenging activity, total antioxidant activity determination by ferric thiocyanate, total reducing ability determination by the Fe3+–Fe2+ transformation method, superoxide anion radical scavenging by the riboflavin/methionine/illuminate system, hydrogen peroxide scavenging and ferrous ions (Fe2+) chelating activities. Curcumin inhibited 97.3% lipid peroxidation of linoleic acid emulsion at 15 μg/mL concentration (20 mM). On the other hand, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA, 123 mM), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT, 102 mM), α-tocopherol (51 mM) and trolox (90 mM) as standard antioxidants indicated inhibition of 95.4, 99.7, 84.6 and 95.6% on peroxidation of linoleic acid emulsion at 45 μg/mL concentration, respectively. In addition, curcumin had an effective DPPH scavenging, ABTS+ scavenging, DMPD+ scavenging, superoxide anion radical scavenging, hydrogen peroxide scavenging, ferric ions (Fe3+) reducing power and ferrous ions (Fe2+) chelating activities. Also, BHA, BHT, α-tocopherol and trolox, were used as the reference antioxidant and radical scavenger compounds. According to the present study, curcumin can be used in the pharmacological and food industry because of these properties.