Investigation on the interaction behavior between curcumin and PAMAM dendrimer by spectral and docking studies.

The interactions between PAMAM-C12 25% and curcumin were studied by UV/vis, fluorescence spectroscopy, and molecular modeling methods. The experimental results showed that the formation of PAMAM-C12 25%@curcumin non-covalent adduct induced the fluorescence quenching of PAMAM-C12 25%; Curcumin entered the interface of PAMAM-C12 25% with mainly five classes of binding sites by hydrophobic, hydrogen bonds, and van der Waals forces interactions. The bigger values of binding constants indicated that PAMAM-C12 25% hold the curcumin tightly.