ABSTRACT
The present study develops a unique in situ synthesis of a catalytically and biologically active Ag/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposite. Herein, we employed Bos taurus indicus urine to synthesize a Ag/rGO nanocomposite in an environmentally benign, facile, economical, and sustainable manner. The elemental composition analysis reveals the presence of Ag, O and C elements. The scanning electron micrograph shows the formation of spherical silver in nanoform whereas rGO is found to be flake shaped with a wrinkled nature. The synthesized nanomaterial and its composite shows a positive catalytic effect in simple organic transformation for the reduction of nitroarene compounds. Investigations were conducted into the catalytic effectiveness of the prepared nanomaterials for diverse nitroarene reduction. Then, using NaBH4 at 25 °C, the catalytic roles of Ag and the Ag/rGO nano-catalyst were assessed towards the catalytic reduction of several environmental pollutants such as 2-, 3- and 4-nitroaniline and 4-nitrophenol into their respective amino compounds. To test their catalytic performance, bio-mimetically synthesized Ag NPs were thermally treated at 200 °C and compared with the Ag/rGO nanocomposite. Furthermore, biomedical applications such as the antibacterial and antioxidant properties of the as-prepared nanomaterials were investigated in this study.
ABSTRACT
Genus Mucuna which is native to China and Eastern India comprises of perennial climbing legume with long slender branches, trifoliate leaves and bear green or brown pod covered with soft or rigid hairs that cause intense irritation. The plants of this genus are agronomically and economically important and commercially cultivated in India, China and other regions of the world. The high degrees of taxonomical confusions exist in Mucuna species that make authentic identification and classification difficult. In the present study, the genetic diversity among the 59 accessions of six species and three varieties of M. pruriens has been assessed using DNA fingerprinting based molecular markers techniques namely randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) and combined dataset of RAPD and ISSR. Also, genetic relationship among two endemic species of Mucuna namely M. imbricata and M. macrocarpa and two varieties namely IIHR hybrid (MHR) and Dhanwantari (MD) with other species under study was investigated by using cluster analysis and principal coordinate analysis. The cluster analysis of RAPD, ISSR and combined dataset of RAPD and ISSR clearly demonstrated the existence of high interspecific variation than intra-specific variation in genus Mucuna. The utility and efficacy of RAPD and ISSR for the study of intra species and interspecies genetic diversity was evident from AMOVA and PCoA analysis. This study demonstrates the genetic diversity in Mucuna species and indicates that these markers could be successfully used to assess genetic variation among the accessions of Mucuna species.
