Green synthesis of gold nanoparticles using Curcuma pseudomontana essential oil, its biological activity and cytotoxicity against human ductal breast carcinoma cells T47D

Green synthesis of Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) has been of great interest because of their potential biomedical applications. In this study, we report the synthesis of AuNPs induced and cofunctionalized with Curcuma pseudomontana essential oil (EO). The AuNPs have a strong antioxidant effect and serve as effective reducing agents, inducing the immediate passivation of AuNPs. The properties of these green AuNPs were characterized by UV/vis, FTIR spectroscopy, SEM and HRTEM study of the AuNPs exhibited excellent homogeneity with an average diameter of 20 nm, with long-term stability as well as good cytotoxic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity. The computational results indicate that there are strong interactions between the phytoconstituents and AuNPs suggesting that this novel synthetic route for AuNPs by using EO as reducing agents may be effectively exploited for nonthermal-assisted reactions and one-pot processes of biological applications. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.