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WSN 28 (2016) 30-40 EISSN 2392-2192

Biogenic production of zinc oxide nanoparticles from aqueous extracts of Duranta erecta L.

C. P. Ravindran, M. Manokari, Mahipal S. Shekhawat*

Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Plant Science, M.G.G.A.C. Mahe, Pondicherry - 673 311, India

*E-mail address: smahipal3@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The present communication reports the biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using aqueous

extracts of leaves, stem, root, flowers and fruits of Duranta erecta L. This plant gains horticultural and

medicinal importance due to its various biological activities. Zinc Nitrate Hexahydrate [Zn

(NO3)2·6H2O] solution was used as a precursor to synthesize Zinc oxide nanoparticles. The various

plant (leaves, stem, roots, flowers, fruits) extracts played as reducing agents. The leaf extract showed

strong absorbance peak at 302 nm, stem and flower peaks were located at 299 nm, roots at 293 nm and

fruit extract solution peak observed at 317 nm.

Keywords: Bioreduction, Zinc oxide nanoparticles, Duranta erecta L, Characterization

1. INTRODUCTION

The quasi-zero-dimensional nanomaterials from plant source have been effectively

proved in controlling the various endemic diseases without adverse effects. The natural

phytochemicals such as alkaloids, steroids flavonoids, tannins, saponins and other nutritional

compounds derived from various parts of plants like leaves, stems, roots, flowers, fruits,

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seeds and barks are studied to synthesize nanoparticles (Mittal et al., 2013; Kuppusamy et al.,

2014).

Biogenic production of metal oxide nanoparticles from plants, particularly zinc oxide

nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) received global attention due to ample applications in medicines and

agriculture.

Zinc oxide nanoparticles are reported efficiently to protect over a broader UV range

than any of the molecular UV-absorbers, photocatalytic degradation of environment

pollution, biocompatibility in drug delivery mechanisms and as nanofertilizers and

nanopesticides (Devalapally et al., 2007; Kulkarni and Muddapur, 2014; Sabir et al., 2014).

Extracts of a diverse range of plant species have been successfully used to synthesize

nanoparticles (Vidya et al., 2013; Shekhawat et al., 2014). Different methods of particle

characterization and its potential applications in medicine are widely discussed by many

researchers (Kuppusamy et al., 2014).

(A)

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(B) (C)

Fig. 1A. Morphology of the plant Duranta erecta.

Fig. 1B. Shoots with flowers.

Fig. 1C. Branches with fruits.

The present study concerns with biological production of zinc oxide nanoparticles from

whole plant extract of Duranta erecta L.

Duranta erecta (syn. Duranta repens) is a horticultural plant with immense medicinal

properties, a member of the family Verbenaceae. It is popularly known as Golden dewdrop,

pigeon berry or skyflower and cultivated as an ornamental plant in tropical and subtropical

gardens throughout the world (Anis et al., 2001). It is a shrub, attaining the height of 3 m, the

leaves are pale-green, and flowers are lavender, produced in tight clusters. The fruit is

globose orange berry. (Fig. 1A-C).

D. erecta is used medicinally for a wide variety of ailments. The whole plant is utilized

as insect repellent, vermifuge, diuretic, antidote to treat itches, infertility, pneumonia, malaria,

intestinal worms, abscesses and neuralgic disorder (Castro et al., 1996; Whistler, 2000;

Rahmatullah et al., 2011). This plant exhibits antioxidant, antibacterial and antimicrobial

activities against human pathogens (Bangou et al., 2012; Prabhakar et al., 2015). It is

endowed with several iridoid glycosides as durantosides and lamiide, flavonoids, alkaloid,

saponnins, acetosides and tannins (Anis et al., 2000; Ahmed et al., 2009; Khanal et al., 2014).

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Recently Patil and Hooli (2015) explored D. erecta in biogenic production of silver

nanoparticles, and evaluated its antimicrobial activity.

The present investigation concentrates on synthesis of metal oxide zinc nanoparticles

(ZnO) and their characterization with the aid of UV-Visible spectrophotometry using

horticultural and medicinal important plant D. erecta.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2. 1. Collection of plant material

D. erecta is mostly cultivated as ornamental plant. The plant material was collected

from the coastal area of Pondicherry, India. The whole plant was harvested and fresh green

leaves, stem, roots, flowers and fruits were collected during the months of July to December,

2014. All the plant parts were washed with distilled water and finely chopped into small

pieces (Fig. 2AB - 6AB).

D. erecta is mostly cultivated as ornamental plant. The plant material was collected

from the coastal area of Pondicherry, India. The whole plant was harvested and fresh green

leaves, stem, roots, flowers and fruits were collected during the months of July to December,

2014. All the plant parts were washed with distilled water and finely chopped into small

pieces (Fig. 2AB - 6AB).

2. 2. Preparation of broth solution

The broth solution (plant extracts) were prepared using 5 gm each of washed and

chopped leaves, stem, roots, flowers and fruits in a 250 ml Erlenmeyer flask with 50 ml of

sterile double distilled water and then boiling the mixture for 5 min. The aqueous herbal

extracts were collected in separate conical flasks by standard filtration method and stored at 4

°C in a refrigerator for further experimentation.

2. 3. Preparation of precursor

Zinc Nitrate Hexahydrate [Zn (NO3)2·6H2O] (Merck, Mumbai) was used as a precursor

to synthesize ZnO nanoparticles from D. erecta in the present study. 1 mM Zinc nitrate

solution was prepared using sterile double distilled water and stored in brown bottle at 4 °C

for further use to synthesize ZnO nanoparticles from leaf, stem, roots, flowers and fruits of D.

erecta.

2. 4. Synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles

Three boiling tubes were used to synthesize ZnO nanoparticles, one containing 10 ml of

1 mM Zinc nitrate solution and the second one containing 10 ml of aqueous plant extract and

the third one containing 9 ml of 1 mM Zinc nitrate solution and 1 ml of plant extracts as test

solution. The reaction mixture from the third tube was centrifuged at 5000 rpm for 15 min to

obtain the pellet after 2 to 3 hrs. Supernatant is discarded and the pellet is dissolved in

deionized water.

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Fig. 2A-C. Leaves and reaction mixtures.

Fig. 3A-C. Stems and reaction mixtures.

Fig. 4A-C. Roots and reaction mixtures.

2. 5. UV-VIS spectral analysis

The bioreduction of ZnO metal ions in solutions was monitored by measuring the UV-

VIS spectrum of the reaction medium. The UV-VIS spectral analysis of the sample was done

by using Systronics Double Beam spectrophotometer (Model 2202, Systronics Ltd. India) at

room temperature operated at a resolution of 1nm between 200 nm and 700 nm ranges.

2

4

3 C

C

C

B

B

B A

A

A

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Fig. 5A-C. Flowers and reaction mixtures.

Fig. 6A-C. Fruits and reaction mixtures.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The bioreduction of zinc oxide nanoparticles using leaf, stem, root, flowers and fruit

extracts of D. erecta was investigated in this study. After treating the extracts of D. erecta

with Zinc nitrate solution, the color change of the reaction mixture was visually observed in

cell free extracts of leaves, roots, flowers and fruits.

The reduction of Zinc nitrate ions into zinc nanoparticles during exposure to the plant

extract is followed by color change from colorless to pale yellow. Initially the color of cell

free extract of stem with metallic precursor was unchangeable, and turned into lemon yellow

when it was heated for 20 min (Fig. 2C-6C). Zinc nitrate is an organometallic precursor and

these color changes observed because of the excitation of surface plasmon vibrations in the

zinc nanoparticle.

The time taken for the reaction mixture to change the color was varied with plant

extracts. Plant mediated zinc oxide nanoparticles are widely accepted in cosmetic industry

and agriculture (Mittal et al., 2013; Sabir et al., 2014). Plant mediated nanoparticle synthesis

using whole plant extract is reported in number of plants (Park et al., 2011).

5 C B A

6 C B A

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7 B

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7 C

7 D

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Fig. 7A. Absorbance peak with leaves extract.

Fig. 7B. Absorbance peak with stem extract.

Fig. 7C. Absorbance peak with roots extract.

Fig. 7D. Absorbance peak with flowers extract.

Fig. 7E. Absorbance peak with fruits extract.

Environmentally benign Zinc oxide nanoparticles from plants extracts were reported

from Passiflora foetida (Shekhawat et al., 2014), Hemidesmus indicus (Shekhawat and

Manokari, 2015), Coriandrum sativum, Acalypha indica (Gnanasangeetha and Thambavani,

2013a; 2013b) and Calotropis procera (Singh et al., 2011) etc. due to its cost effective non-

hazardous procedures.

The reduction of zinc oxide nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Visible

spectrophotometer and the readings were recorded at regular intervals using Double Beam

spectrophotometer. UV-Visible spectroscopy is an important technique to monitor the

formation and stability of metal nanoparticle in aqueous solution. The biosynthesis of zinc

oxide nanoparticles from the reaction mixture in the third tube was confirmed by evaluating

its optical properties. This analysis showed an absorbance peak between 290 – 350 nm, which

was specific for ZnO nanoparticles. The aqueous reaction mixture of leaves showed strong

broad peak at 302 nm, stem and flowers peak were located at 299 nm, roots at 293 nm and

fruit at 317 nm (Fig. 7A-E). The biomolecules and bioreducing agents from the plants such as

7 E

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enzymes, proteins, flavonoids, terpenoids and cofactors present in the plant parts are of

significant in converting nanoparticles (Mittal et al., 2013). The phytomolecules such as

glycosides, saponins and tannins present in D. erecta plant extracts can be used to reduce

metal ions to nanoparticles in a single-step green synthesis process. Zinc oxide nanoparticles

are emerging with huge application in crop protection and agriculture (Prez-de-Luque and

Rubiales, 2009; Nair et al., 2010; Khot et al., 2012). The use of zinc oxide nanoparticles in

antimicrobial food packaging has also been reported (Prez Espitia et al., 2012). This biogenic

reduction of zinc oxide nanoparticles is quite rapid, readily conducted at room temperature

and pressure, and easily scaled up.

4. CONCLUSION

The method for zinc oxide nanoparticle synthesis described in this paper is a green

procedure, using environmentally non-hazardous natural resources. Plant extracts act as a

reducing and stabilizing agents for the bioreduction reaction to synthesize zinc oxide with a

lot of advantages such as cost effective, biocompatibility allowing large scale commercial

production of the herbal nanoparticles. Thus, the study ascertains the value of D. erecta in

nano-field, which could be of considerable interest to the development of new drugs in

medical field and production of pesticides and nano-bio-fertilizers in revolutionizing

agriculture.

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( Received 17 October 2015; accepted 31 October 2015 )