The Structure of Curcumin

Curcumin provides a yellowish color to turmeric. Curcumin powder consists of a mixture of curcumin proper with two curcumenoids, substances that resemble curcumin in structure and chemical properties. It has a relatively simple chemical formula.

Polyphenol

• Curcumin is a polyphenol, according to Immunobiology. This means that it contains more than one phenol group, each of which consists of a ring of six carbon atoms with an hydroxyl (OH) group attached. Curcumin has two phenol groups.

Resonance

• Each phenol is resonant. Resonance is a special chemical bond in which all six carbons participate, each contributing an electron.

Attachments to Phenols

• A chain of seven carbon atoms join the two phenols together. On each phenol, the point of attachment is opposite the hydroxyl group. An --OCH3 group unites with each phenol on a carbon adjacent to the hydroxyl attachment site.

Keto and Enol

• In the chain, the third and fifth carbon each unite with an oxygen atom. Each carbon-oxygen group may form either a keto, in which carbon and oxygen have extra electrons uniting them, or an enol, in which a hydrogen atom moves from an adjacent carbon to the oxygen atom to form a hydroxyl group, while the extra electrons migrate and strengthen the union of carbons in the chain.