Figure 1.

Comparison of traditional curcumin and TML-6 through its chemical structure. (A) The medical use of traditional curcumin is limited by its water insolubility (hydrophobic), low intestinal absorption, rapid metabolism, which leads to poor bioavailability. (B) TML-6 modified from traditional curcumin conserves the bioactivity of curcumin, becomes more stable, and slows down in metabolism. However, preliminary studies revealed that both curcumin and TML-6 had poor water solubility and need to be optimized by formulation.