Metallic and metal oxide nanoparticles synthesized from melon juice. Synthesis, biological application, antioxidant, anticancer, and green catalyst in p-nitrophenol reduction

In this research, melon extract was used as a natural fuel for the synthesis of various nanoparticles. The average particle size was 60-140 nm for Ag, 30-50 nm for La2CO5, and 27-34 nm for ZnO NPs. The three synthesized nanoparticles presented an excellent performance for the reduction of p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol (k = 0.029, 0.078, and 0.008 min-1 for Ag, La2CO5, and ZnO NPs, respectively). La2CO5 NPs were the most efficient catalyst for p-nitrophenol reduction. The optimal conditions for this catalyst were a catalyst concentration of 0.6 g/L, a NaBH4 concentration of 0.07 mM, and a reaction time of 20 min. The NPs showed a hopeful antioxidant capacity in scavenging DPPH radicals. In vitro anticancer assay confirmed their potent anticancer action. They interacted with human serum albumin (HSA) and quenched its fluorescence emission by static mechanism. During the interaction, the main forces between them and the protein were van der Waals interactions and hydrogen bonds. The structural changes of the HSA were not too great and the protein maintained its overall structure. The results presented in this research confirm that biosynthesized NPs can be promising candidates in catalytic, antioxidant, and anticancer applications.

Automated summary

In this research, melon extract was used as a natural fuel to synthesize Ag, La2CO5, and ZnO nanoparticles. These nanoparticles exhibited excellent performance in catalytic, antioxidant, and anticancer applications.