Tautomerism and bioactivities of curcumenol, a common sesquiterpenoid widely existing in edible plants.

Curcumenol was firstly revealed as a pair of hemiacetal-ketone tautomers in solutions by using temperature variation 1H-NMR experiments, 2D NMR, and chemical methods. Quantum chemical calculation allowed the explanation of its spectroscopic behavior. An antioxidative SAR study on its derivatives verified the tautomeric bio-significance. Curcumenol also remarkably enhanced myogenic differentiation and mitochondrial function.