Improve water solubility and develop potential application value of curcumin

Curcumin (CCM) is a polyphenolic compound extracted from turmeric plants such as turmeric, curcuma, curcuma, etc.

At present, methods to improve the solubility of CCM include chemical modification of CCM based on liposomes, micelles, nanoemulsions, amorphous solid dispersions, and the formation of complexes.

However, most of the above methods are not easily applicable to food, for example: the preparation of liposomes requires a large amount of surfactants; most natural polymers need to be modified, and synthetic polymers usually have low biocompatibility

Phytoglycogen (PG) is a highly branched soluble α-D-glucan linked by α-1,4 and α-1,6 glycosidic bonds.

PG does not contain a clustered structure, but forms a spherical structure with more branches, shorter and tighter structure than amylopectin, and is a natural nanoparticle

Based on the characteristics that PG is easy to disperse and dissolve in cold water and has good dispersion stability, using PG as a carrier, a certain amount of high-concentration CCM ethanol solution is added to a certain concentration of PG aqueous solution, so that the CCM in the system is supersaturated.

PG and CCM can interact through intermolecular hydrogen bonds, and the particle size of PG does not change significantly after CCM is loaded.

The results showed that PG is an efficient carrier that can significantly improve the apparent solubility of CCM, and the PG-CCM complex is simple to prepare, which is expected to be incorporated into functional foods to promote the effect of CCM

(Wang Pan)

"China Food News" (July 04, 2022 Edition 06)

(Editor-in-charge: Yang Xiaojing)