Abstract

GREEN SYNTHESIS OF GOLD NANOPARTICLES MEDIATED BY PLANT ESSENTIAL OIL AND ITS ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY AGAINST HUMAN PATHOGENIC FUNGI

R. R. Thanighaiarassu, Balwin Nambikkairaj, R. Devika,                    D. Raghunathan, P. Sivamani

ABSTRACT

The biological synthesis of gold nanoparticles with small size and biostability is very important and used in various biomedical applications. A new method has been used for the green synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using plant leaf essential oil of Mentha piperita (Lamiaceae). Gold nanoparticles were characterized with different techniques such as UV–Vis spectroscopy, SEM-EDX, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Transmission electron microscopy showed that these nanoparticles are 52 nm in size. The SEM image showed that theses gold nanoparticles are small dot round shaped structure. X-ray diffraction pattern showed these gold nanoparticles are powdery in nature. Clinical isolates in the group of molds such as Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, and yeast like fungi such as Candida tropicalis, Candida albicans and Candida kefyr, were used for antifungal assay. The results proved that the ingredients, mostly menthol which is present in this plant is an excellent bio-reductant for the synthesis gold nanoparticle and the synthesized nanoparticle showed considerable activity against these clinically isolated pathogenic fungi.

Keywords: Mentha piperita essential oil, Green synthesis, Aspergillus niger, Gold nanoparticles, TEM.