Pithecellobium dulce mediated extra-cellular green synthesis of larvicidal silver nanoparticles

Present study reports a green chemistry approach for the biological synthesis of silver nanoparticles using the aqueous leaf extract of Pithecellobium dulce, which acts as a reducing and capping agent. It is observed that use of P. dulce leaf extract makes a fast, environmentally benign and convenient method for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles and can reduce silver ions into silver nanoparticles. Silver nanoparticles so prepared have been characterized by UV-Vis, FT-IR, X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscope studies. Furthermore, these nanoparticles show effective larvicidal activity against Culex quinquefasciatus (LC50 = 21.56 mg/L and r(2) = 0.995) due to high surface to volume ratio. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.