GREEN SYNTHESIS OF SILVER NANOPARTICLES USING AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF Lagenairia breviflora FRUIT AND ITS ANTIMICROBIAL APPLICATIONS

Green synthesis of nanoparticles is a synthetic method that utilizes biological sources for their production. It is gaining attention due to its cost-effectiveness, eco-friendly nature, and compatibility with large-scale production. Herein is a detailed report on the green synthesis of AgNPs and evaluation of their antimicrobial activity. Aqueous extract of Lagenaria breviflora fruit was obtained via maceration and then screened to determine the presence of important phytochemicals. The synthesis of AgNPs was carried out in the dark to avoid photodegradation of silver nitrate solution. 0.005M AgNO? solution was added to aqueous extract of Lagenaria breviflora fruit in a ratio of 80:20. The mixture was maintained at 60°C for 6 hours under constant stirring. A color changes was observed, indicating the formation of AgNPs; which was confirmed by a visual color change from light yellow to dark brown due to the phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance. The biosynthesized AgNPs were characterized using UV-vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). SEM revealed the surface morphology and the average particle size of 73.20 nm, X-ray diffraction showed an average crystallites size of 12.83 nm in the range of 10-700, FTIR revealed the presence of important functional groups responsible for reduction of silver ions and UV-Visible spectrophotometer showed maximum absorbance peak of 435 nm in the range of 300-700nm. The antibacterial activity of the synthesized AgNPs were tested against clinical pathogens including gram negative (Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi) and gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) using agar well diffusion method. The result showed that the green synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have a potential to inhibit the growth of bacterial with inhibition zones diameter of 12mm, 11mm and 11mm observed for the tested organisms compare to the 19mm of the control (Ciprofloxacin). Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannnis, flavonoids, terpenoids, saponins and carotenoids.