Controlled Aqueous Phase Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles using Fruit extract of Momordica charantia

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) were synthesized using aqueous fruit peel extract of Momordica charantia which is a very well known plant locally known as Bitter gourd. The extract contains compounds such as citric acid, flavonoids, phenols and volatile oil which not only act as a reducing agent for Au³⁺ but also as capping agent to prevent the aggregation of gold nanoparticles. The Au NPs of different sizes 20 nm, 50 nm and 75 nm are synthesized using aqueous phase green synthesis and characterized using UV-vis spectroscopic analysis and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). The size of these nanoparticles is dependent on the weight percentage of chloroauric acid. These are found to be highly monodispersed and can be potentially used as a nontoxic therapeutic and imaging agent for various diseases.