It has been observed that the antioxidant action of capped Ag nanoparticles containing plant Selleck GSK2126458 extract is higher than that of the plant extract

alone [50, 54]. Enhanced antimicrobial activity of Ag nanoparticles prepared from Mimusops elengi was reported against multi-drug resistant clinical isolates [60]. Ag nanoparticles synthesized from Artemisia nilagirica [61] and Pongamia pinnata [62] have also been found to be active against several microorganisms. Ag nanoparticles synthesized from Morinda citrifolia root extract have also exhibited cytotoxic effect on HeLa cell lines [63]. It is quite obvious that the plant extract certainly contains substantial quantity of benign chemicals which reduce the metal salt into nanocrystals. It has been practically determined that the quantity of Cinnamomum camphora, as reductant, is responsible for the size of nanocrystals of AgNO3. When 50 mL solution of 1 mM AgNO3 is exposed to as little as 0.1 g of biomass of C. camphora at 30°C, the nanoparticles are

SRT1720 price produced within 1 h, although completion of the YM155 in vivo reaction occurs in 118 h [64]. The absorption spectrum of the reduced product containing different quantities of the leaf extract has revealed that there are two absorption peaks, a strong peak at 440 nm due to particles of one shape in abundance and a weak peak at 360 nm owing to some scattered particles of different shape. much It is apparent from the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of silver nanoparticles that the morphology of the crystals are slightly different, although their size ranges between 55- and 80 nm. The nanocrystals produced from small quantity of the biomass are scattered and are of better quality. When the quantity of biomass is increased, the time of formation of nanocrystals is drastically reduced from 118 h for 0.5 g biomass

to 24 h for 1.0 g [64]. However, in such cases, the nanoparticles are aggregated, while with low quantity of the biomass, they remain segregated. It has also been observed that with increasing biomass the shape of nanocrystals also changes. The different absorption maxima correspond to different types of the nanocrystals formed. It has been reported by Huang et al. [64] that C. camphora leaf contains alkaloids, hydroxybenzenes, anthracene, steroids, terpenoids, coumarins, lactones, linalools, polysaccharides, amino acids and proteins. The silver and gold nanocrystals have been produced from the dried biomass of leaves. The study of the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum of the dried leaf biomass before and after reduction of Ag+ and Au3+ shows changes in the functional groups of biomolecules [64]. There appear absorption bands at 1,109, 1,631 and 1,726 cm-1 which are attributed to CO, C = C and C = O stretching frequencies, respectively, in the free leaf powder.