Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by Lallemantia royleana leaf Extract: Their Bio-Pharmaceutical and catalytic properties

The study of the silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) synthesis based-green methods become more interesting recently due to their low-cost preparation, eco-friendly and non-toxic precursors. The present study approved the ability of the Lallemantia royleana (Benth. in Wall.) Benth. leaf extract for the synthesis of AgNPs for the first time. The synthesized AgNPs were physico-chemical characterized using ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform-Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), zeta potential and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. The total phenols, flavonoids, anthocyanin, tannin contents, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic and cytotoxic activities of L. royleana leaf extract and the synthesized AgNPs were investigated. The biocatalytic activity of prepared AgNPs was assessed on methylene blue as a pollutant organic dye. The TEM examination showed that the synthesized AgNPs were predominantly spherical with some mixed shapes and crystalline with average size 34.47 ± 1.6 nm, and showed a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peak at 425 nm. The zeta potential value was −24.1 mV indicating the stability of produced AgNPs. The new prepared AgNPs have lower total phenols, flavonoids, anthocyanin, tannin contents than L. royleana leaf extract. In addition, the new prepared AgNPs demonstrated the higher DPPH radical scavenging activity (87 %) and the ABTS radical scavenging activity (77 %) at the maximum prepared concentration of 250 μg mL−1 as compared to the L. royleana leaf extract (62 % and 58 %, respectively). The produced AgNPs also exhibited the higher antimicrobial activity against both the Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus) and the Gram-negative (Escherichia coli and Shigella flexneri) bacteria and the Candida strains (Candida glabrata and Candida albicans) as compared to the L. royleana leaf extract. The resulting AgNPs indicated a dose-dependent anti-inflammatory effect on human red-blood cell (RBC) membrane stabilization assay and had more activity (72 %) compared to the L. royleana leaf extract (61 %) at 250 µg mL−1. The prepared AgNPs showed promising in vitro anti-arthritic activity evaluated by 73 % compared to 58 % in case of L. royleana leaf extract. The new produced AgNPs showed the higher cytotoxic effect against the human hepatoma (Hep-G2) and the human breast (MCF-7) cancer cells compared to the L. royleana leaf extract with 79.3 % and 77.2 % at 250 µg/mL, respectively. The obtained results revealed also that the green synthesized AgNPs were capable to catalyze MB dye. Therefore, the obtained results provide a promising route of the green synthesis of AgNPs using L. royleana leaf extract with considerable biopharmaceuticals and catalytic applications.