A facile synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Woodfordia fruticosa flower extracts for certain bacteria inhibition applications

The present research focused on extraction of bioactive compounds from Woodfordia fruticosa flower (WF) using ethanol, methanol and ethyl acetate as solvents and the development of silver nanoparticles using these extracts for inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae), Escherichia coli (E. coli), and Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) bacteria. The functional groups of bioactive compounds present in the solvent extracts were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The morphological features and formation of silver nanoparticles (10–30 nm, by the reduction of solvent extracts) were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy, respectively. The elemental compositions of the synthesized nanoparticles were analyzed using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The inhibition efficiency of the alcoholic and ester extracts of WF and the synthesized silver nanoparticles were evaluated and compared to Moxifloxacin. The results revealed that the synthesized silver nanoparticles demonstrated enhanced bacterial inhibition efficiency compared to the unprocessed ethanol, methanol, and ethyl acetate extracts of WF, and Moxifloxacin.