The Concept of a Green Drug, Curcumin and It ’ s Derivatives as a Model System

Abstract

Only 5-15% of the ~25000 existing species of plants have been examined for the presence of biologically active compounds. The ancient medical systems use a much larger palette of herbs for therapy. Systematic drug discovery involving using cues provided from traditional medical systems is bound to produce a new generation of green drugs. Curcumin the primary active ingredient in Curcuma longa is used as a model to enunciate the concept of green drug development. Synthetic and formulation based approaches to optimize the bioactivity of curcumin is presented.

Novel Thermally Cross-Linkable Poly[(arylenedioxy)(diorganylsilylene)]s Based on Curcumin: Synthesis and Characterization

“…Kohli et al and Chainani-Wu published excellent reviews on the anti-inflammatory activity of curcumin. The anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin can be attributed to a large extent to its ability to inhibit the activation of NFK-β. − Curcumin has also been demonstrated to be effective against other diseases and biological conditions ranging from cystic fibrosis and Alzheimer’s disease to malaria . The promising biological effects of curcumin have led to a host of other review articles on the subject. ,− …”