Curcumin Is an Iconic Ligand for Detecting Environmental Pollutants

Abstract

The rapid increase in industrial revolution and the consequent environmental contamination demands continuous monitoring and sensitive detection of the pollutants. Nanomaterial-based sensing system has proved to be proficient in sensing environmental pollutants. The development of novel ligands for enhancing the sensing efficiency of nanomaterials has always been a challenge. However, the amendment of nanostructure with molecular ligand increases the sensitivity, selectivity, and analytical performance of the resulting novel sensing platform. Organic ligands are capable of increasing the adsorption efficacy, optical properties, and electrochemical properties of nanomaterials by reducing or splitting of band gap. Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) is a natural organic ligand that exhibits inherent fluorescence and electrocatalytic property. Due to keto-enol tautomerism, it is capable of giving sensitive signals such as fluorescence, luminescence, ultraviolet absorption shifts, and electrochemical data. Curcumin probes were also reported to give enhanced meterological performances, such as low detection limit, repeatability, reproducibility, high selectivity, and high storage stability when used with nanosystem. Therefore, research on curcumin-modified nanomaterials in the detection of environmental pollution needs a special focus for prototype and product development to enable practical use. Hence, this article reviews the role of curcumin as a natural fluorophore in optical and electrochemical sensing of environmentally significant pollutants. This review clearly shows that curcumin is an ideal candidate for developing and validating nanomaterials-based sensors for the detection of environmental pollutants such as arsenic, lead, mercury, boron, cyanide, fluoride, nitrophenol, trinitrotoluene, and picric acid and toxic gases such as ammonia and hydrogen chloride. This review will afford references for future studies and enable researchers to translate the lab concepts into industrial products.

Electrochemical Sensors Based on Au Nanoparticles Decorated Pyrene-Reduced Graphene Oxide for Hydrazine, 4-Nitrophenol and Hg2+ Detection in Water

“…Detection of Hg 2+ was performed by monitoring the CM oxidation current at the IIP/AuNPs/PCA-rGO/SPCEs, relative to the variation of its concentration, by DPV. The addition of Hg 2+ leads to a decrease in the oxidation peak current of CM at 0.04 V (vs. pseudo-Ag/AgCl) with the simultaneous appearance of a new peak at 0.6 V (vs. pseudo-Ag/AgCl) ( Figure S10A ), that is due to the oxidation of the CM, that is involved, by its keto groups, in a complex with Hg 2+ (Hg 2+ :CM complex) [ 35 , 49 ].…”

Curcumin Electrochemistry—Antioxidant Activity Assessment, Voltammetric Behavior and Quantitative Determination, Applications as Electrode Modifier

“…A review published in 2019 discussed CU various sensing applications, with emphasis on luminescence-based detection modes [157]. A more recent paper showed CU utility in the assessment of environmental pollutants [158]. CU-based electrochemical sensors reported in the literature in the last 20 years will be briefly presented below.…”

Preparation of Polycurcumin-Modified Graphite Electrode via Electropolymerization and its Application for Determining Cd²⁺

“…Curcumin (C20H12O6) is the main compound contained in turmeric. Curcumin has IUPAC nomenclature of 1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-dione [1] [2]. It has a distinctive yellow hue that gives it colorant properties [3].…”