Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles from seed extracts of Cyperus esculentus and Butyrospermum paradoxum

Objective: To synthesize silver nanoparticles from two medicinally important plant seed extracts of Cyperus esculentus and Butyrospermum paradoxum for the first time and to check the potency of the crude methanolic extracts and their synthesized nanoparticles on ten different human pathogens. The percentage yields of two seed extracts were 15.10% and 18.08% respectively and subjected to phytochemical and antimicrobial screenings. For the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), different aqueous concentrations (1mM and 3mM) of silver nitrate solutions were prepared and added to the methanolic extracts of the two plants seeds under mild reaction conditions. Synthesis of AgNPs was confirmed from the change of colour of the reaction mixtures, change in pH, FTIR spectrum and UV-Vis study of the colloidal solutions and further subjected to antimicrobial screening. Methods: Characterization of nanoparticles was done by using UV-visible spectroscopy, FTIR and pH meter to monitor and characteristics the nanoparticles. Result: The phytochemical screening of the extracts revealed the presence of alkaloids, carbohydrate, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, phenols, saponins, sterols, tannin, terpenoids and reducing sugar in the two samples. However, phlobatannins and quinone were absent in B. paradoxum seed extract. The presence of phenols, terpenoids and flavonoids showed that the seed extracts were viable for the synthesis of nanoparticles. Antimicrobial activities revealed t thepotency of B.paradoxum seed extract as compared to C. esculentus seed extract while the antimicrobial activities of the synthesized nanoparticles also revealed that the 3mM silver nanoparticles were more potent in inhibiting the growth of microorganisms than the seed extracts. This is an indication that silver nanoparticles could be used as antibacterial agents. Conclusions: It can be concluded that the seeds of C. esculentus and B. paradoxum could be a good source for the synthesis of si lver nanoparticles which shown high antimicrobial activity against ten different human pathogens. The important outcome of this study will be of high value products from medicinal plants C. s esculentus and B.paradoxum for biomedical and nanotechnology based industries.