Phytochemistry, Antioxidant Property of Carbon Dots of the Biosoot of Datura metel

The medicinal importance of the plant, Datura metel, is enlisted as curing skin disorders, asthma, diabetes, heart disease, epilepsy, rheumatic disorders and dental pain. Also, it is used minimally in medicine because of its toxicity, which causes hallucinations, dilated pupils, coma, convulsions, headache and fatality in some cases. Research says the smoke derived from the Datura species acts deadly on organs. This created the curiosity for the researchers to study the nature of the Biosoot, i.e. soot generated from the materials of biological origin. Biosoot are generated from the plant, Datura metel, using open pyrolysis, and the soot was allowed to settle on the porcelain tile and collected. The Biosoot thus collected were characterized for their properties using DLS, XRD and FTIR for their characterization as Carbon nanoparticles (CNPs). The presence of secondary metabolites in Biosoot of Datura metel and antioxidant potency was determined using a DPPH assay. The DLS has revealed the size range of Biosoot as 144-486nm, XRD revealed the size range as 40 - 191nm and the nature of CNPs as amorphous, and FTIR revealed the presence of C-H aromatic, C-H aliphatic and C=C unsaturated compounds as its associated compounds. The Biosoot was evaluated for secondary metabolites, which showed the presence of Flavonoids, Terpenoids, Steroids and Coumarin. The EC50 value recorded for DPPH was 18ug. The study revealed that the Biosoot are of nanosize, possessing few associated compounds along with plant secondary metabolites and a high antioxidant nature as they possess related compounds which can be used even as an antibacterial or antifungal agent. The other advantage is that carbon nanoparticles are highly biocompatible. Thus, the CNPs synthesized in the form of Biosoot can can be potentially used in the field of medicine/pharmaceuticals after proper evaluation of their cytotoxicity.