Phytochemical Screening of Aqeous Extract of Petals of Crocus sativus L. and Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Using Aqeous Extract

During the last decade, the synthesis of metal nanoparticles with approximately 1-100 nm have received considerable attention. These nanoparticles have various usages in diffrents fields of sciences and technology. In this study, silver nano-particles were synthesized by the petals and stamens extract of Crocus sativus L. The silver nano-particles were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), In-frared Spectroscopy (IR), Ultraviolet/Visible Spectroscopy (Uv/Vis) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). All techniques were confirmed the synthesis of silver nano-particles. The size of silver nano-particles was calculated by X-ray diffraction (18 nm). The size of nano-particles in TEM images of silver nano-particles was accordance with X-ray diffraction (18 nm). Furthermore, the amount of phenolic compounds and flavonoids of Petals and stamens of Crocus sativus L. were investigated in four solvents with different polarities (Ethanol, Methanol, Chloroform and Ethyl acetate). The results showed that, the ethanol and methanol extracts of Petals are enrich in phenolic and flavonoid compounds, (32.68×10-3 mg/g and 87.6×10-3 mg/g, respectively). Also, the least amount of phenolic and flavonoid compounds of all tissues (Petals and stamens) was extracted in the chloroform extracts. In additions, the antioxidant capacity (IC50) of Petals and stamens were investigated. Methanol extract of all tissues were extracted and the antioxidant capacity were determined as quenching the 2,2-diphenyl 1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). The results showed that petals have higher antioxidant capacity than stamens of Crocus sativus L (IC50=5.79 and 14.71 mg/ml, respectively).