Nanochemistry and biotechnology

Green synthesis of silver and gold nanoparticles using extracts of Heracleum spp.
Mariychuk R.1, Grulova D.1, Lisnyak V.V.2
1 Department of Ecology, Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences, University of Prešov in Prešov, 17th November Str. 1, 08001, Prešov, Slovakia.
E-mail: ruslan.mariychuk@unipo.sk
2 Faculty of Chemistry, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Volodymyrska Str. 62a, 01601 Kyiv, Ukraine.

Heracleum mantegazzianum and Heracleum Sosnowskyi are two invasive species in Slovakia and other countries of Central Europe. Both species are represented by variable morphology and their eradication is very problematic. The part of their metabolism is the production of different kind of secondary metabolites which protect themselves against local microbiota, fungi or herbivores. For instance, cumarins derivatives provide photodynamic effect after transmission to the human skin can be caused damages reminds „sun burn“. This shows that Heracleum spp. is a source of compounds, which are the source of different kinds of interactions during the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles.
Our investigation focused on exploring the possibilities to use the extracts of Heracleum spp. for green synthesis of silver and gold nanoparticles. The products of green synthesis depend on different factors such as the external conditions of the reaction (e.g. temperature, concentration), as well as reaction time, pH and extract constituents, which permit the formation and stability of the nanoparticles. Obtained silver and gold nanoparticles were characterized using UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy, infra-red spectroscopy, EDX, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction.