Curcumin is one of the compounds covered in Option F: Food chemistry. It is found in turmeric – the yellow spice used in Indian curries. It is included in the IB Chemistry programme as it is an effective natural antioxidant. It may now have a use for victims of strokes.

tumeric powder and roots

The structure of a molecule of curcumin shows the presence of two phenolic groups which account for its antioxidant properties. You can also get your students to explain why it is coloured (due to the extensive conjugation of the double bonds). This could  be used either in Option A: Modern analytical chemistry (A.8.4) or in Option F (F.10.2). 

It was reported yesterday by Dr Paul Lapchack who works at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles that a new compound, CNB-001, has been developed from curcumin. This compound is more effective at crossing the blood-brain barrier than curcumin and has been shown to be effective in mice at repairing stroke damage. There are hopes that it may be able to regenerate brain cells if given within three hours of a patient suffering a stroke and trials are about to begin on humans. A video describing this has been produced by Insider medicine.