Kurkuminin sudaki çözünürlüğünün arttırılması

This thesis is about an alternative method for increasing the low water solubility of curcumin, which is a very useful antioxidant for human body. Human body may produce some free radicals naturally whereas the free radicals may also be produced because of external effects like smoking cigarettes or consuming highly toxic dietary products in daily life.These free radicals are especially harmfull for human body cells and even destroy the DNA. For neglecting any kind of destruction,the free radicals produced by either humabn body or external effects,should be neutralized by antioxidants. Curcumin is one of the most important antioxidants,extracted from the turmeric plant.It is very useful for treating certain diseases like cancer. There are many different types of pharmaceutical and alternative medicine products which contain curcumin as the main ingredient. The water solubility of curcumin, is not sufficient for many of its pharmaceutical uses. Since the human body consists of mostly water, it is easier to consume a highly water soluble antioxidant. Low water solubility limits the curcumin applications in drug and foods. In this study, polyethyleneglycol is chosen as complexing agent for increasing the water solubility and it is bicompatible and not toxic. It is a non-ionic surfactant, which has an advantage that is the solvating power for numerous substances that are sparingly soluble in water. This action can be described to the formation of a sort of complex between the polyethylene glycol and the active substance. Different molecular weights from 400 which is a nonvolatile liquid, to 4000-5000 which is waxy at room temperature, are available. Three types of Polyethyleneglicol with different molecular weights were used for the experiments. Three different PEG concentrations were chosen and PEG solutions were prepared. Since the curcumin is a coloured reagent, it was known that it will give a maximum absorbance at a specific wavelength. The measurements are made with a UV Visible dedector in a range of 300 to 500 nm. Three different curcumin concentrations are chosen having PEG and curcumin as the main component. For each concentration, three set of samples are prepared. Each set of sample solutions are also measured with the same method as the calibration solutions. The absorbance values at the maximum wavelength are obtained so that the amount of dissolved curcumin in PEG can be calculated via using the calibration equations. As we can see from the results of the studies, curcumin amounts in the PEG solutions were increased in high concentrated PEG solutions and especially high molecular weight PEG types. PEG1500 solutions have the highest solubility of the curcumin. Although it is expected to have a highe solubility value in 20% of PEG1500, higher curcumin concentration is obtained in 10 and 15%.