ORIGINAL PAPER Solution Combustion Synthesis of Hierarchically Structured V 2 O 5 Nanoflakes: Efficacy Against Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium berghei and the Malaria Vector Anopheles stephensi Kadarkarai Murugan 1,2 • Christina Mary Samidoss 1 • Jayaraman Theerthagiri 3 • Chellasamy Panneerselvam 4 • Jagannathan Madhavan 3 • Aruliah Rajasekar 5 • Angelo Canale 6 • Giovanni Benelli 6 Received: 10 April 2017 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2017 Abstract The effective prevention and treatment of malaria still represent a major public health challenge. Here, the solution combustion method was used for the synthesis of hierarchically structured V 2 O 5 nanoflakes. The toxicity of V 2 O 5 nanoflakes was evaluated on the malaria vector Anopheles stephensi and on the malaria parasites Plasmodium falciparum and P. berghei, relying to in vitro and in vivo assays. V 2 O 5 nanoflakes were examined by various techniques, including powder X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (XRD), and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). LC 50 of V 2 O 5 nanoflakes against A. stephensi larvae and pupae were 1.936 ppm (larva I), 3.606 ppm (II), 4.750 ppm (III), 6.636 ppm (IV), and 8.876 ppm (pupae). Furthermore, the antiplasmodial activity of V 2 O 5 nanoflakes was evaluated against chloroquine-resistant (CQ-r) and CQ- sensitive (CQ-s) strains of P. falciparum. IC 50 of V 2 O 5 nanoflakes were 84.54 lg/ml (CQ-s) and 88.17 lg/ml (CQ-r). In vivo antiplasmodial experiments conducted on P. berghei infecting albino mice showed moderate activity of V 2 O 5 nanoflakes, if compared to chloroquine. Overall, our results highlighted the promising potential of & Giovanni Benelli benelli.giovanni@gmail.com 1 Department of Zoology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore 641 046, India 2 Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore 632 115, India 3 Solar Energy Lab, Department of Chemistry, Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore 632 115, India 4 Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, University of Tabuk, Tabuk 71491, Saudi Arabia 5 Department of Biotechnology, Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore 632 115, India 6 Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy 123 J Clust Sci DOI 10.1007/s10876-017-1228-7