Anticancer, antioxidant, and catalytic activities of green synthesized gold nanoparticles using avocado seed aqueous extract

Abstract

Disposal of agricultural waste has a negative impact on the environment and human health and may contribute to the greenhouse effect. The field of nanotechnology could provide alternative solutions to upcycle agricultural wastes in a safer manner into high-end value products. Organic waste from plants contain biomaterials that could serve as reducing and capping agents in the synthesis of nanomaterials with enhanced activities for use in biomedical and environmental applications. Persea americana (avocado) is a fruit with a high nutritional value; however, despite its rich phytochemical profile, its seed is often discarded as waste. Therefore, this study aimed to upcycle avocado seeds through the synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and evaluate their anticancer, antioxidant, and catalytic activities. The biosynthesis of avocado seed extract (AvoSE)-mediated AuNPs (AvoSE−AuNPs) was achieved following the optimization of various reaction parameters, including pH, temperature, extract, and gold salt concentrations. The AvoSE−AuNPs were poly-dispersed and anisotropic, with average core and hydrodynamic sizes of 14 ± 3.7 and 101.39 ± 1.4 nm, respectively. The AvoSE−AuNPs showed excellent antioxidant potential in terms of ferric reducing antioxidant power (343.88 ± 0.001 μmolAAE/L), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (128.80 ± 0.0159 μmolTE/L), and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (1822.02 ± 12.6338 μmolTE/L); significantly reduced the viability of Caco-2 and PC-3 cells in a dose-dependent manner; and efficiently reduced 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol. This study demonstrated how avocado seeds, an agricultural waste, can be used as sources of new bioactive materials for the synthesis of AuNPs, which have excellent antioxidant, anticancer, and catalytic activities, showing AvoSE−AuNPs’ versatility in various applications. In addition, the AvoSE−AuNPs exhibited good stability and recyclability during the catalytic activity, which is significant because some of the primary issues with the use of metallic NPs as catalysts are around the cost-effectiveness, recovery, and reusability of the catalyst.