Studies on complex formation between curcumin and Hg(II) ion by spectrophotometric method: A new approach to overcome peak overlap

Complex formation between curcumin and Hg(II) ion MeOH/H₂O (1: 1 v/v) was investigated and monitored by the spectrophotometric method. The absorption peak of unreacted curcumin which was close and overlapped with that of the complex, was removed by calculation using Microsoft Excel, thereby, allowing determination of the stoichiometry of the complex by the mole-ratio and the Job’s continuous variation methods. Both methods indicated that a 1:1 complex of curcumin and Hg(II) was formed in solution. The formation constant of the 1:1 Hg(II) complex was obtained from two methods, the equilibrium concentration calculation and the linear plot of Benesi-Hildebrand equation, as log K = 4.44 ± 0.16 and 4.83 ± 0.02, respectively. The structure is proposed as a tetrahedral complex of Hg(II) with one curcumin and two chloride ions as ligands. Electronic Supplementary Material  Supplementary material is available for this article at and is accessible for authorized users.