Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha 5099, South Africa.
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Science, North-West University, Private Bag X2046, Mmabatho 2735, South Africa.
Molecules. 2022 May 17;27(10):3206. doi: 10.3390/molecules27103206.
Biogenic metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) have emerged as a useful tool in biology due to their biocompatibility properties with most biological systems. In this study, we report the synthesis of copper oxide (CuO), zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs), and their nanocomposite (CuO-ZnO) prepared using the phytochemical extracts from the leaves of (kei apple). The physicochemical properties of these nanomaterials were established using some characterization techniques including X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The XRD result confirmed the presence of a monoclinic CuO (Tenorite), and a hexagonal ZnO (Zincite) nanoparticles phase, which were both confirmed in the CuO-ZnO composite. The electron microscopy of the CuO-ZnO, CuO, and ZnO NPs showed a mixture of nano-scale sizes and spherical/short-rod morphologies, with some agglomeration. In the constituent's analysis (EDX), no unwanted peak was found, which showed the absence of impurities. Antioxidant properties of the nanoparticles was studied, which confirmed that CuO-ZnO nanocomposite exhibited better scavenging potential than the individual metal oxide nanoparticles (CuO, and ZnO), and ascorbic acid with respect to their minimum inhibitory concentration (IC) values. Similarly, the in vitro anticancer studies using MCF7 breast cancer cell lines indicated a concentration-dependent profile with the CuO-ZnO nanocomposite having the best activity over the respective metal oxides, but slightly lower than the standard 5-Fluorouracil drug.
生物成因金属氧化物纳米粒子（NPs）由于其与大多数生物系统的生物相容性而成为生物学中的有用工具。在这项研究中，我们报告了使用（苹果）叶的植物化学提取物合成氧化铜（CuO）、氧化锌（ZnO）纳米粒子（NPs）及其纳米复合材料（CuO-ZnO）。使用 X 射线衍射分析（XRD）、紫外-可见光谱（UV-vis）、扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、透射电子显微镜（TEM）和能量色散 X 射线光谱（EDX）等一些表征技术确定了这些纳米材料的物理化学性质。XRD 结果证实存在单斜晶相 CuO（Tenorite）和六方晶相 ZnO（Zincite）纳米粒子相，这两种相都存在于 CuO-ZnO 复合材料中。CuO-ZnO、CuO 和 ZnO NPs 的电子显微镜显示出纳米级尺寸和球形/短棒形态的混合物，存在一些团聚。在成分分析（EDX）中，没有发现不需要的峰，表明没有杂质。研究了纳米粒子的抗氧化性能，证实 CuO-ZnO 纳米复合材料比单独的金属氧化物纳米粒子（CuO 和 ZnO）以及抗坏血酸具有更好的清除潜力，就其最小抑制浓度（IC）值而言。同样，使用 MCF7 乳腺癌细胞系进行的体外抗癌研究表明，浓度依赖性呈现有形，CuO-ZnO 纳米复合材料的活性优于各自的金属氧化物，但略低于标准 5-氟尿嘧啶药物。
