A Review on Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles by Employing Plants of Acanthaceae and its Bioactivities

Nanotechnology has immense number of applications in all contemporary fields of science. Silver nanoparticles form an important part of metal nanoparticles, with wider range of applications in diverse areas of science. Plant mediated green synthesized silver nanoparticles are usually preferred due to its advantages over other metal nanoparticles viz. non toxicity, lesser energy consumption, cost effectiveness and lesser pollution. Plants belonging to Acanthaceae family are medicinally as well as pharmacologically relevant. They contain many important phytochemicals, which can reduce, stabilize and act as capping agents in the nanoparticle synthesis. Various mechanisms to synthesize silver nanoparticles are explored here to analyse its formations in the most efficient method. Different phytochemicals with various functional groups assisting the formation of nanoparticles during green synthesis are also summarized here. The synthesized silver nanoparticles show effective antimicrobial properties along with many other potential bioactivities. The mechanisms of antimicrobial properties of silver nanoparticles are also assessed. Various bioactivity studies connected with green synthesized AgNPs comprising of antimicrobial, antifungal, biocompatibility, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antioxidant, larvicidal, effect on Seed germination and growth are briefly outlined in this article.