Hydroxyapatite/curcumin nano-composites were synthesized by surfactant mediated approach. As hydroxyapatite is a bio-mineral with various bio-medical applications, the composites were made with natural pigment curcumin having numerous therapeutic applications and characterized it using various analytical techniques like powder XRD, FT-IR, TEM, TGA, CHN, and Impedance spectroscopic studies. Impedance spectroscopy study suggested the effect of grain and grain boundary for pure hydroxyapatite, while only the grain effect was observed for the composites. Hemolytic and antimicrobial activities were also carried out suggesting that the samples were safer to use medically. The bio-activity study was conducted using Simulated Body Fluid (SBF) in vitro indicating increased bio-activity in terms of increased formation of apatite layer. K E Y W O R D Scurcumin, hydroyapatite, nano-composite

Hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2-HAp), is an excellent inorganic biomaterial and finds various applications. As it is similar to inorganic matrix of human bone and dental enamel, pure and doped HAps are widely studied. In the present study, pure nano-HAp and Strontium doped nano-HAp (Sr-HAp) with different concentrations were synthesized by surfactant mediated approach. The doping of strontium was confirmed by EDAX. The powder XRD study was carried out and it suggested nano-crystalline nature of the sample and the extra peaks observed other than HAp were due to the presence of brushite phase for higher concentration of Sr. TEM study revealed the needle type morphology for all the samples with size ranging from 23 nm to 78 nm. The dielectric study was carried out at room temperature within the frequency range from 102 Hz to 107 Hz and the variations of dielectric constant with frequency of applied field as well as with the concentration of strontium were studied. The results are discussed.

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