Central International Journal of Plant Biology & Research Cite this article: Roy S, Das TK (2015) Plant Mediated Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles-A Review. Int J Plant Biol Res 3(3): 1044. *Corresponding author Swa rup Ro y, De p a rtme nt o f Bio c he mistry a nd Bio p hysic s, Unive rsity o f Ka lya ni, Ka lya ni – 741235, We st Bengal, India. Telephone: Offce: (033) 25828750, 2582 8378 (Ext. 385), 919046546632 (M); Fax: +91-33-25828282; Email: swaruproy@klyuniv.ac.in , Submitte d: 28 April 2015 Accepted: 27 August 2015 Publishe d: 29 August 2015 ISSN: 2333-6668 Copyright © 2015 Roy et al. OPEN ACCESS Ke ywo rds • Bio synthe sis • Na no te c hno lo g y • Silve r na no p a rtic le s • Pla nts Review Article Plant Mediated Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles-A Review Swarup Roy* and Tapan Kumar Das Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Kalyani, Kalyani – 741235, West Bengal, India Abstract Developing an environment friendly process for synthesis of nanoparticles is a signifcant step in the feld of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology involves the tailoring of materials at the atomic level to attain unique properties, which can be suitably manipulated for the desired applications. Among the all metallic nanoparticles silver nanoparticles draw more attention due to its unique physical, chemical and biological properties. Green protocol of synthesizing nanoparticles has emerged as an alternative to overcome the limitation of conventional methods. Plant and microorganisms are majorly applied for green synthesis of metallic nanoparticles. Using plants towards synthesis of nanoparticles are emerging and also benefcial compared to microbes with the presence of broad variability of bio-molecules in plants which can act as capping/stabilizing and reducing agents and so increases the rate of reduction and stabilization of synthesized nanoparticles. Among all organisms plants seem to be the best candidates for biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles and they are suitable for large- scale biosynthesis. Nanoparticles produced by plants are more stable and the rate of synthesis is faster than in the case of microorganisms. This review focuses on the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using various plant sources. INTRODUCTION Nanotechnology is a field of science which deals with production, manipulation and use of materials ranging in nanometers. With the advancement of technologies and improved scientific knowledge a way for research and development in the field of herbal and medicinal plant biology towards intersection of nanotechnology has been observed. One such interference is applying plants source in the green synthesis of nanoparticles. Nanoparticles can be easily synthesized using various methods by various approaches available for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles include chemical [1], electrochemical [2], radiation [3], photochemical methods [4] and Langmuir-Blodgett [5,6] and biological techniques [7]. But most of the chemical methods used for the synthesis of nanoparticles involve the use of toxic, hazardous chemicals that create biological risks and sometime these chemical processes are not ecofriendly. This enhances the growing need to develop environmentally friendly processes through green synthesis and other biological approaches. Sometimes the synthesis of nanoparticles using various plants materials and their extracts can be beneficial over other biological synthesis processes which involve the very complex procedures of maintaining microbial cultures [8,9]. A lot of literature has been reported till to date on biological synthesis of silver nanoparticles using microorganisms including bacteria, fungi and plants; because of their antioxidant or reducing properties typically responsible for the reduction of metal compounds in their respective nanoparticles. Although; among the various biological methods of silver nanoparticle synthesis, microbe mediated synthesis is not very suitable for industrial feasibility because of requirements of highly aseptic conditions and their maintenance. So, the use of plant extracts for this purpose is potentially advantageous over microorganisms due to the ease of improvement, the less biohazard and elaborate process of maintaining cell cultures [10]. It is one of the best platforms for synthesis of nanoparticles as it is free from toxic chemicals as well as providing natural capping agents for the stabilization of silver nanoparticles. Now, plant mediated synthesis of metal nanoparticles is receiving lots of attention due to its simplicity, speedy synthesis of nanoparticles of attractive and diverse morphologies and elimination of detailed maintenance of cell cultures and eco-friendliness. The reason for selecting plant for biosynthesis is because they contain important reducing agents like Citric acid, Ascorbic acids, flavonoids, reductases etc., dehydrogenases and extracellular electron shuttlers that may play an important role in biosynthesis of metal nano particles [11].