BIOMIMETIC SYNTHESIS OF COPPER NANOPARTICLES USING CYANTHILLIUM CINEREUMLEAF EXTRACT AND EVALUATION OF ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY

AbstractPlant-mediated synthesis is being explored as a comparatively simple route for preparing metalbased nanomaterials. In this study, an aqueous leaf extract of Cyanthillium cinereum was used in thepreparation of copper-based nanoparticles, and the resulting material was examined by electronmicroscopy and screened for antibacterial activity. Fresh leaves were collected from Erode, TamilNadu. The protocol describes mixing copper sulphate solution with the aqueous leaf extract andincubating the reaction mixture at room temperature for 24 h; a visible colour change was recordedduring synthesis. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed aggregated material with someapparently spherical particles, while transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images were reported toshow nanoscale, predominantly spherical particles. In agar-well diffusion screening, the preparedsuspension produced reported inhibition zones of 24–27 mm against Pseudomonas sp., 23–33 mmagainst Staphylococcus sp., 24–31 mm against Escherichia coli, and 24–25 mm against Bacillus sp.across the two tested volumes (50 and 100 µL). The largest reported zone was against Staphylococcussp. at 100 μL These preliminary results suggest that the plant mediated product is worth furtherinvestigation.