Curcumin glucuronides: assessing the proliferative activity against human cell lines.

A gram scale synthesis of the glucuronide metabolites of curcumin were completed in four steps. The newly synthesized curcumin glucuronide compounds 2 and 3 along with curcumin 1 were tested and their anti-proliferative effects against KBM-5, Jurkat cell, U266, and A549 cell lines were reported. Biological data revealed that as much as 1μM curcumin 1 exhibited anticancer activity and almost 100% cell kill was noted at 10μM on two out of four cell lines; while curcumin mono-glucuronide 2 as well as di-glucuronide 3 displayed no suppression of cell proliferation.