Facile synthesis of water-soluble curcumin nanocrystals

Abstract

In this paper, a facile synthesis of water-soluble curcumin nanocrystals is reported. Solvent exchange method was applied to synthesize curcumin nanocrystals. Different techniques were used to characterize the structural and photophysical properties of the curcumin nanocrystals. It was found that the nanocurcumin prepared by this method had good chemical and physical stability, could be stored in the powder form at room temperature, and was freely dispersible in water. It was established that the size of curcumin nanocrystals varied in the range of 20-500 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and UV-Vis analyses showed the presence of tetrahydrofuran inside the curcumin nanocrystals. Furthermore, it was found that the nanocurcumin emitted photoluminescence with a yellow green color.