Abstract
To meet the increasing demands for commercial nanoparticles new eco-friendly methods of synthesis are being discovered. Plant mediated synthesis of nanoparticles offers single step, easy extracellular synthesis of nanoparticles. We report the synthesis of antibacterial Silver nanoparticles using leaf extract of the medicinal plant, Tinospora cordifolia. The leaf extract was prepared by boiling chopped leaves of Tinospora cordifolia in deionized water for 10 min and filtering the mixture with Whatman filter paper No.1. The filtrate was used as a reducing agent and stabilising agent for AgNO3. On adding 1 mM solution of Silver nitrate to the leaf extract and stirring at 75 °C for 25 min, a change in colour from yellow-brown to brown-black specified the production of Silver nanoparticles. The formation of Silver nanoparticles was monitored by UV-visible spectroscopy and further characterization of the synthesized Silver nanoparticles was done by XRD studies. The antibacterial studies were performed on Gram negative and Gram positive pathogens, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter aerogenes and Staphylococcus aureus, by agar well diffusion method, on Mueller Hinton agar medium. The Silver nanoparticles synthesized from Tinospora cordifolia leaf extract were found to have antimicrobial activity against these Gram negative and Gram positive pathogenic bacteria.