Green synthesis of hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles using Rhus punjabensis extract and their biomedical prospect in pathogenic diseases and cancer

Abstract

Hematite nanoparticles (NPs) are chemically and thermodynamically more stable among iron oxide NPs therefore these are considered highly suitable for biomedical applications. This work explores Rhus punjabensis extract potential as both reducing and capping agent for phytomediated synthesis of NPs from ferric chloride precursor. The structural, morphological and compositional investigations were carried out with XRD, SEM, TEM, EDS, and FFT. The synthesized NPs were hematite (Fe2O3) with rhombohedral crystal structure of an approximate size of 41.5 ± 5 nm. TEM, FTIR, and TG/DTA indicated phase-pure Fe2O3 formation with controlled size through use of capping agent. Biological activities depict that synthesized NPs had free radical scavenging, antioxidative potential and reducing power activities. These activities are due to phenolic and flavonoid like properties by attachment of different functional groups on the surface of NPs. The NPs exhibited significant Antileishmanial, antibacterial and protein kinase inhibition activities as compared with the corresponding plant extract. NPs depicted cytotoxic effect against HL-60 leukemic and DU-145 prostate cancer cell lines with ED50 values of 11.9 and 12.79 μg/ml, respectively. The inhibitory effect observed in the NF-κB assay suggested apoptotic potential of hematite NPs to cancerous cells. The green chemistry route reported in this paper for Fe2O3 NP synthesis can be safely and efficiently explored for treatment of cancer and as theranostic agent.