Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/bab Biogenic gold nanoparticles synthesized using Crescentia cujete L. and evaluation of their different biological activities Prabukumar Seetharaman, Rajkuberan Chandrasekaran, Sathishkumar Gnanasekar, Illaiyaraja Mani, Sivaramakrishnan Sivaperumal ⁎ Department of Biotechnology, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620024, Tamil Nadu, India ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Crescentia cujete Antibacterial Anticancer Gold nanoparticles ABSTRACT Crescentia cujete L. (Calabash tree) is a common tree distributed throughout the world. The tree and its fruit have high ethnobotanical value and practiced in Indian folk medicine. Nanotechnology is gaining more importance due to its myriad of application in physical, chemical and biological sciences. Herewith we present a compre- hensive study on the benign synthesis of gold nanoparticles using an aqueous leaf extract of Crescentia cujete L. (CCAuNPs). In a shorter period of time, the reaction completed when an aqueous extract of Crescentia cujete was employed as a reducing agent to reduce Au 3+ ions into nanoparticles. Generated CCAuNPs generates a shift in the reaction medium due to the excitation of surface Plasmon resonance (SPR) which produces an intense ab- sorbance peak at 560 nm in UV–Vis spectroscopy. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) reveals the functional group moieties involved in reduction and stabilization of CCAuNPs. Transmissions Electron Microscope (TEM) studies depict the anisotropic shape of CCAuNPs with mean size 32.89 mm. Additionally, X- Ray Diffraction (XRD) study depicts face centered cubic crystalline structure and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) revealed that synthesized CCAuNPs were stable with highly negatively charged. CCAuNPs exhibited extra- ordinary bactericidal activity against the tested pathogens. 3-(4, 5-Dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2, 5-diphenyl-2H tet- razolium bromide (MTT) assay determined that CCAuNPS conferred strong cytotoxicity against the HeLa cell line. Therefore, the present study shows the utility in synthesizing gold nanoparticles with Phytoconstituents and having a wide range of applications in medical science. 1. Introduction In the recent era, nanomaterials are a choice of interests among the research fraternity due to its plethora of applications in science and technology. Nanoparticles synthesis is a kind of bottom-up approach where atoms and molecules build up to form nanoclusters (Lee et al., 2015). Such kind of nanomaterials has prominent applications due to its insightful optical and spectral properties. Nanomaterials, in particular, noble metallic nanomaterials (Silver, gold, copper, zinc, palladium, selenium and iron oxide) are gaining more popularity and can be used for diversified applications (Islam et al., 2015). Among them, gold na- noparticles (AuNPs) are in the top niche due to its properties such as catalytic, optical, electronic, controllable size, dispersity, biocompat- ibility and strong adsorbing capacity (Lee et al., 2010). Gold nano- particles exhibit versatility in surface modification, surface Plasmon resonance (SPR), non-toxicity, photothermal properties and have found major applications in cancer diagnosis and therapy (Cai et al., 2008; Ghosh et al., 2008). Conventionally AuNPs synthesized by microwave irradiation, elec- trochemical, ablation sonochemical, thermal decomposition and che- mical reduction techniques involve expensive techniques; require high energy, usage of toxic chemicals and leaves hazardous by-products (Sathishkumar et al., 2016; Rajathi et al., 2014). Physio -chemical methods are robustly scaled up for the AuNPs production with uniform size and shape, but toxicity makes them unsuitable for biomedical ap- plications (Narayanan and Sakthivel, 2011). Hence it is imperative to develop an environmentally friendly method for the synthesis of AuNPs to utilize its potential benefit maximum to the human welfare. Green synthesis of metallic nanoparticles can be achieved by using bioresources like bacteria, fungi, algae, and plants. But preferably, plant-based synthesis is more advantages over a microbial route which require elaborate time and high-cost downstream processing (Kuppusamy et al., 2016). Many earlier studies have reported the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles using plants, roots, seeds, flowers and explored its therapeutic potency as bactericidal, fungicidal, ne- maticidal, mosquitocidal and anticancer agent (Noruzi, 2015). In the http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bcab.2017.06.004 Received 2 March 2017; Received in revised form 5 June 2017; Accepted 7 June 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: srkbtge123@rediffmail.com (S. Sivaperumal). Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology 11 (2017) 75–82 Available online 08 June 2017 1878-8181/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. MARK