Phytochemical Analysis of Wrightia tinctoria Leaves and Synthesis of ZnO Nanoparticles for the Remediation of Water Pollutants

Abstract

In this work, zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) were fabricated using aqueous extract of Wrightia tinctoria leaves for evaluating its catalytic and antibacterial efficacy against water contaminants. The qualitative phytochemical estimation showed the presence of secondary metabolites alkaloids, tannins, terpenoids, steroids, glycosides, flavonoids and biomolecules carbohydrates and proteins in different solvent extracts. The quantitative estimation for phytochemicals showed total phenols (39.59 mg/g), total flavonoids (44.34 mg/g), total alkaloids (149.56 mg/g) and total tannins (56.47 mg/g). The GC-MS analysis revealed the bioactive compound mome inositol as the major phytochemical present in W. tinctoria leaves. The characterization of ZnO nanoparticles with XRD showed Bragg’s reflections at 2θ angles of 31.76º, 34.47º, 36.23º, 47.48º, 56.59º, 62.99º and 68.00º which confirmed the hexagonal wurtzite structure and size (86 nm) of the nanoparticles. The SEM analysis showed that the morphology of synthesized was spherical structure with uniform distribution. The ZnO nanoparticles effectively inhibited the growth of water contaminating bacterial pathogens viz. Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebshiella pneumoniae and Streptococcus pneumoniae. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO oxide nanoparticles in degrading textile dyes, methylene blue and methyl orange was found to be effective.