Abstract
Biosynthesis of nanoparticles has arisen as a promising alternative to conventional synthetic methodologies owing to its eco-friendly advantages, and the involved bioprotocol still needs further clarification. This research, for the first time from the standpoint of statistics, confirmed an electrostatic force or ionic bond-based interaction between the chloroauric ions and the involved bioconstituents and manifested that reducing sugars and flavonoids were both important reductants responsible for conversion of Au(III) to Au(0). The result also demonstrated that the proteins were not the reducing agents, yet they might be protection agents in biosynthesis of gold nanoparticles (GNPs). Besides, a significant linear relationship was found between the anti-oxidant ability of the foliar broths and their capability to reduce Au(III) into Au(0). Furthermore, the preliminary investigation based on the boxplot on the size/shape distribution of the biosynthesized GNPs revealed that gold nanospheres with higher degree of homogeneity in size tended to be promoted by foliar broths containing higher content of reducing sugars/flavonoids and proteins. Otherwise, i.e., for those broths with lower content of the above biocompounds, sphere GNPs of wider size distribution or even gold nanotriangles tended to be fabricated.(See supplementary material 1)
Highlights
Nanotechnology owing to its promising applications has received tremendous attention in the past decades
The content of flavonoids, reducing sugars and proteins, as well as the anti-oxidant capability of the foliar broths should reflect the role of each parameter upon the biosynthesis of gold nanoparticles (GNPs), as demonstrated
Thereby through adjusting the choice of the plants, biosynthesis of spherical or triangular GNPs might be size controllable, which could be of great environmental and operational advantages over those chemical methods employing additives for adjustment [36]. This statistical investigation supported the speculation that the [AuCl4]- interacted with the biocompounds through an ionic bond or an electrostatic force, and both reducing sugars and flavonoids were proved to be important reductants responsible for the conversion of Au(III)
Summary
Nanotechnology owing to its promising applications has received tremendous attention in the past decades. As building blocks in nanotechnology, various methods [1–3] have been developed to fabricate nanostructures of welldefined compositions. Conventional physical and chemical methods either are energy intensive or impose environmental hazards due to toxic solvents or additives as well as hazardous by-products. It is of great interest to develop environmentally benign alternatives, among which biological systems arise as a typical instance. In addition to the delicate culture and storage, subsequent processing of NPs formed by intracellular biosynthesis is generally difficult, and microorganisms used for the extracellular biosynthesis of NPs must be extensively screened [8]. Biosynthetic method employing plant extracts or biomass has appeared as a simple and viable alternative to microorganisms, e.g., Nanoscale Res Lett (2010) 5:1351–1359 plants such as coriander alfalfa [9], Aloe vera [10], Avena sativa biomass [11], lemongrass [12], Cinnamommum camphora [13] etc. Our group have demonstrated that a large number of plants possess the capability to convert Au(III) into Au(0) [8]
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