Banana Peels: A Waste Treasure for Human Being.

In recent years, scientists' interest in agricultural waste has increased, and the waste has become attractive to explore and benefit from, rather than being neglected waste. Banana peels have attracted the attention of researchers due to their bioactive chemical components, so we focused on this review article on the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of banana peels that can be used as good sources of natural antioxidants and for pharmaceutical purposes in treating various diseases. Banana is an edible fruit belonging to the genus Musa (Musaceae), cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions. Banana peels are used as supplementary feed for livestock in their cultivation areas. Its massive by-products are an excellent source of high-value raw materials for other industries by recycling agricultural waste. Hence, the goal is to use banana by-products in various food and nonfood applications and sources of natural bioactive compounds. It can be concluded that banana peel can be successfully used in food, pharmaceutical, and other industries. Therefore, banana residues may provide new avenues and research areas for the future.

Exploring Dose-Dependent Cytotoxicity Profile of Gracilaria edulis-Mediated Green Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles against MDA-MB-231 Breast Carcinoma.

Green-based synthesis of metal nanoparticles using marine seaweeds is a rapidly growing technology that is finding a variety of new applications. In the present study, the aqueous extract of a marine seaweed, Gracilaria edulis, was employed for the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles without using any reducing and stabilizing chemical agents. The visual color change and validation through UV-Vis spectroscopy provided an initial confirmation regarding the Gracilaria edulis-mediated green synthesized silver nanoparticles. The dynamic light scattering studies and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy pictographs exhibited that the synthesized Gracilaria edulis-derived silver nanoparticles were roughly spherical in shape having an average size of 62.72 ± 0.25 nm and surface zeta potential of -15.6 ± 6.73 mV. The structural motifs and chemically functional groups associated with the Gracilaria edulis-derived silver nanoparticles were observed through X-ray diffraction and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Further, the synthesized nanoparticles were further screened for their antioxidant properties through DPPH, hydroxyl radical, ABTS, and nitric oxide radical scavenging assays. The phycosynthesized nanoparticles exhibited dose-dependent cytotoxicity against MDA-MB-231 breast carcinoma cells having IC50 value of 344.27 ± 2.56 µg/mL. Additionally, the nanoparticles also exhibited zone of inhibition against pathogenic strains of Bacillus licheniformis (MTCC 7425), Salmonella typhimurium (MTCC 3216), Vibrio cholerae (MTCC 3904), Escherichia coli (MTCC 1098), Staphylococcus epidermidis (MTCC 3615), and Shigella dysenteriae (MTCC9543). Hence, this investigation explores the reducing and stabilizing capabilities of marine sea weed Gracilaria edulis for synthesizing silver nanoparticles in a cost-effective approach with potential anticancer and antimicrobial activity. The nanoparticles synthesized through green method may be explored for their potential utility in food preservative film industry, biomedical, and pharmaceutical industries.

Exploring the Bioactive Potentials of C60-AgNPs Nano-Composites against Malignancies and Microbial Infections.

At present, the potential role of the AgNPs/endo-fullerene molecule metal nano-composite has been evaluated over the biosystems in-vitro. The intra-atomic configuration of the fullerene molecule (C60) has been studied in-vitro for the anti-proliferative activity of human breast adenocarcinoma (MDA-MB-231) cell lines and antimicrobial activity against a few human pathogens that have been augmented with the pristine surface plasmonic electrons and antibiotic activity of AgNPs. Furthermore, FTIR revealed the basic vibrational signatures at ~3300 cm-1, 1023 cm-1, 1400 cm-1 for O-H, C-O, and C-H groups, respectively, for the carbon and oxygen atoms of the C60 molecule. NMR studies exhibited the different footprints and magnetic moments at ~7.285 ppm, explaining the unique underlying electrochemical attributes of the fullerene molecule. Such unique electronic and physico-chemical properties of the caged carbon structure raise hope for applications into the drug delivery domain. The in-vitro dose-dependent application of C60 elicits a toxic response against both the breast adenocarcinoma cell lines and pathogenic microbes. That enables the use of AgNPs decorated C60 endo fullerene molecules to design an effective anti-cancerous drug delivery and antimicrobial agent in the future, bringing a revolutionary change in the perspective of a treatment regime.

Wet chemical development of CuO/GO nanocomposites: its augmented antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancerous activity.

This study employed a bottom-up technique to synthesize copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles over hydrophilic graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets. The CuO/GO nanocomposite has been prepared using two selected precursors of copper nitrate and citric acid with an intermittent mixing of GO solutions. The synthesized Nanocomposites were characterized using different biophysical techniques like FT-IR, NMR, FE-SEM, and HR-TEM analyses. FT-IR analyses confirm the nanocomposites' successful formation, which is evident from the functional groups of C=C, C-O, and Cu-C stretching vibrations. Morphological analyses reveal the depositions of CuO nanoparticles over the planar rough GO sheets, which has been elucidated from the FE-SEM and HR-TEM analyses supported by respective EDAX analyses. The antimicrobial activities have been evident from the surface roughness and damages seen from the FE-SEM analyses. The CuO/GO sheets were tested against Gram-positive (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa). It is evident that the intrinsic antibacterial activity of CuO/GO sheets, when combined in equal proportions, elicited a robust antibacterial activity when tested over Gram -ve representative bacteria Escherichia coli. The antioxidant behaviour of synthesized CuO/GO nanocomposite was evaluated by scavenging the free radicals of DPPH and ABTS. Moreover, the cytotoxic activity was also studied against epidermoid carcinoma cell line A-431. A brief mathematical formulation has been proposed in this study to uncover the possibilities of using the nanocomposites as potential drug candidates in theranostic applications in disease treatment and diagnosis. This study would help uncover the electronic properties that play in the nano-scaled system at the material-bio interface, which would aid in designing a sensitive nano-electromechanical device bearing both the therapeutic and diagnostic attributes heralding a new horizon in the health care systems.

Matrix effects on the photocatalytic oxidation of alcohols by [nBu4N]4W10O32 incorporated into sol-gel silica.

Two heterogeneous photocatalysts have been prepared by entrapment of [nBu(4)N](4)W(10)O(32) in a silica matrix, through a sol-gel procedure: SiO(2)/W30% and SiO(2)/W10% with 30% and 10% of decatungstate, respectively. They are characterized by the presence of micropores of about 7 A and 15 A and mesopores of about 25 A. Due to different preparation procedures, SiO(2)/W10% presents a more remarkable porous network than SiO(2)/W30%. The morphological features of SiO(2)/W30% and SiO(2)/W10% differ from those of their parent material SiO(2)/W0%, indicating that incorporation of the decatungstate induces a significant modification of the porous texture of the siliceous material. These photocatalysts demonstrate good stability in the oxygen-assisted photooxidation of 1-pentanol and 3-pentanol, which have been chosen as models of primary and secondary aliphatic alcohols. In particular, photoexcitation (lambda > 290 nm, 25 degrees C, 760 torr of O(2)) leads to conversion of these two substrates to pentanal or 3-pentanone, with a mass balance of about 90%. There is a strong effect of the solid support on the reactivity of the two alcoholic substrates. In particular, oxidation of 1-pentanol with SiO(2)/W10% is about four times faster than with [nBu(4)N](4)W(10)O(32) in homogeneous solution. Preferential adsorption phenomena, due to the hydrophilic character of silica explain the photocatalytic properties of the two heterogeneous systems, because adsorption favours the contact between the photoexcited decatungstate and the primary OH group of 1-pentanol. Moreover, some kind of shape selectivity, due to the microporous structure of the investigated materials, likely contributes to control the conversion yields.