Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1187917 Food Chemistry 2008 7 Pages PDF
Abstract

Curcumin (a major constituent of widely-used spice and colouring agent, turmeric) was found to be very effective in antagonising the S9-mediated mutagenicity of several food-derived heterocyclic amines. In order to understand the chemical basis of antimutagenic properties of curcumin against these mutagens, we have studied the structure–activity relationship between curcumin and its naturally-occurring derivatives, namely demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin, and other structurally-related natural and synthetic analogues of curcumin, namely tetrahydrocurcumin, dibenzoylmethane, dibenzoylpropane, vanillin, ferulic acid, isoferulic acid and caffeic acid, using Ames Salmonella/reversion assay, against different classes of cooked food mutagens. We conclude that unsaturation in the side chain, a methoxy group on the benzene ring and a central β-diketone moiety in the curcumin molecule are the important structural requirements responsible for high antimutagenic potential of curcumin against cooked food heterocyclic amines.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Chemistry Analytical Chemistry
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