Abstract
Carissa carandas L. is traditionally used as antibacterial medicine and accumulates many antioxidant phytochemicals. Here, we expand this traditional usage with the green biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) achieved using a Carissa carandas L. leaf extract as a reducing and capping agent. The green synthesis of AgNPs reaction was carried out using 1mM silver nitrate and leaf extract. The effect of temperature on the synthesis of AgNPs was examined using room temperature (25 °C) and 60 °C. The silver nanoparticles were formed in one hour by stirring at room temperature. In this case, a yellowish brown colour was developed. The successful formation of silver nanoparticles was confirmed by UV-Vis, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The characteristic peaks of the UV-vis spectrum and XRD confirmed the synthesis of AgNPs. The biosynthesised AgNPs showed potential antioxidant activity through DPPH assay. These AgNPs also exhibited potential antibacterial activity against human pathogenic bacteria. The results were compared with the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the plant extract, and clearly suggest that the green biosynthesized AgNPs can constitute an effective antioxidant and antibacterial agent.