Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology - Volume 24, Issue 1, 2023

The green synthesis of nanomaterials is nowadays gaining great attention owing to several beneficial aspects in terms of the low toxicity of reagents and by-products, low damage to the health and the environment, sustainability of energy savings and rational use of natural resources. The intrinsic complexity offered by the biological sources (plants, microorganisms, animal products) and the conditions applied in the synthetic procedures forms various nanomaterials with different sizes, morphologies and surface properties that strongly determine their functionality and applications. A deep understanding of the role of biological components, the mechanism of nanostructure formation and growth, and the effects of green synthesis conditions is of paramount importance to achieving the desired nanomaterial for the required application. In this context, this review aims to provide an overview of the structural and functional complexity of nanomaterials achieved by using green synthesis procedures, with a special focus on the role of biological sources and parameters in controlling the complexity and benefit of nanomaterial applications.

Pyrexia itself is not a terminal condition. Basically, it occurs with mild to serious diseases affecting alarge population of the world. Other than a high body temperature, pyrexia is accompanied by several sickness behaviors, changes in physiological and metabolic characteristics of the body system, and alterations in the immune responses. Various allopathic drugs are available to treat pyrexia by targeting the symptom or the pathogen itself. Drug-resistance has made control and treatment of vectors more difficult. However, many marginal people are obligated to utilize locally available medicinal plants for the treatment of various diseases due to limited access to synthetic drugs. Developments in the field of nanotechnology and phytochemical research towards the discovery of new antimicrobial agents have also drawn the interest of researchers towards the synthesis of green nanoparticles from plant extracts due to their several benefits over the other methods. Thus, the present report discusses the use of ethnomedicinal plants, phytocompounds, and the application of green nanoparticles synthesized from plant extracts to treat pyrexia.

Nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) hold great potential for the advancement of future medicine but suffer from unsatisfactory clinical success due to the challenges accompanied with their delivery. Nucleic acid-mediated nanomaterials have riveted the researchers from the past two decades and exhilarating tasks have prevailed. Nucleic acid nanotechnology offers unique control over the shape, size, time, mechanics and anisotropy. It can transfect numerous types of tissues and cells without any toxic effect, minimize the induced immune response, and penetrate most of the biological barriers and hence it reveals itself as a versatile tool for multidisciplinary research field and for various therapeutic purposes. Nucleic acid combines with other nanoscale objects also by altering the chemical functional groups and reproducing the varied array of nanomaterials. Interestingly, nucleic acidderived nanomaterials are characterized easily at atomic level accuracy. However, this advent of nanoscience has vital issues which must be addressed, such as the high cost of nucleic acids, their self-assembly nature, etc. Hence, the aim of this review is to highlight the systematic advances and methodology of nucleic acid-mediated synthesis of nanomaterials and their therapeutic applications.

Nanotechnology is a new emerging cutting-edge technology in the 21st century and has applications in medical, cosmetics, electronics, energy, food, agriculture, and many sectors. Nanomaterials (NMs) are the main component of nanotechnology. NMs prepared by chemical routes are very hazardous and not safe for life. Therefore, attempts are being made to prepare NMs via different green routes. It is expected that nanotechnology using green synthesized NMs will be safe. At the same time, green synthesized nanomaterials will be cost-effective. In this chapter, the applications of green synthesized NMs in agriculture have been discussed in detail.

The synthesis of biogenic nanoparticles from readily available natural resources may have large demand in numerous fields including pharmaceuticals and medicine. The biogenic nanoparticles catch the attention of the scientific community due to their low cytotoxicity and biocompatibility. Chemical, physical, and greener methods are used for the synthesis of biogenic nanoparticles. Researchers used eco-friendly and nontoxic approaches in the synthesis of this nanoparticle. This nanomaterial-based medicine plays a vital role in the management of public health, including earlier detection of disease, therapeutics candidates in the treatment of cancer. Biogenic nanocomposites are environmentally benign candidates that include fabrication of various composites, detoxification, and act as a catalyst in the biodegradation process. In this review article, we emphasize the recently reported methods used for synthesis, summarizing their biomedical applications and commercial and environmentally benign applications. Synthetic strategies include greener, chemical, physical, and biogenic methods and their role in surface modifiers involves various biomedical, commercial, and environmental-related applications. Moreover, we glimpse existing status, key contests, and future perspectives.

Background: Water pollution is one of the important causes of human fatality in the world, particularly in underdeveloped or developing countries. Moreover, with rapid industrialization and urbanization, the problem of water pollution is posing a severe threat to health and livelihood. The pollutants found in water are of varied nature and depend on the source of the water. Several techniques have so far been adopted to purify contaminated water. All the techniques have one or the other disadvantages, limiting their applications on large scale, sustainability, and long-term usage. The advances in the field of nanoscience and technology have opened a new horizon for replacement/improvement of conventional ways with more efficient methods. Presently, green synthesized nanomaterials are being used for water purification. > Methods: Plant extracts and microbes are being used to synthesize nanomaterials, which are used as catalysts, adsorbents and membranes for water purification. > Results: Nanomaterial-based techniques could create problems for the environment due to various chemicals used in their production step, thus defeating the ultimate purpose. In this regard, green nanomaterials can prove to be extremely useful both in terms of sustainability and efficiency. > Conclusion: This review illustrates various ways of how green nanomaterials can be utilized for water remediation and summarizes the recent work done in this emerging research area.

In recent years, nanomaterials as photocatalysts have gained much popularity for the removal of organic pollutants from tainted water using photodegradation, since the available chemical, physical, and biological methods are often time consuming, involve high cost and dumping complications, sometimes posing serious threat to both human health and environmental elements. The use of nanomaterials is less expensive and does not, in general, form aggregated macromolecules. In addition, nanotechnology for waste-water treatment demolishes or alters the risky chemical wastes to harmless end products like H2O and CO2. Nanomaterials synthesized from natural resources or prepared using green synthetic routes are receiving a surge of interest as our consciousness of the ecological environment and safety rises. ‘Green’ materials of this kind might also show unique strength features and exceptional biodegradability, along with their other notable advantageous properties like a minimum threat to the environment, efficient recyclability and low cost compared to synthetic nanomaterials. Such green nanomaterials can also serve as nanocatalysts to treat toxic organic pollutants in a safer way, including photodegradation to less or non-toxic products. This article reviews the latest developments on the synthesis of some promising green nanomaterials aiming towards their efficient uses as photocatalysts for the degradation of organic pollutants. Strategies to find new green materials as photocatalysts through the modification of technologies and the development of novel methodologies for the safer treatment of organic pollutants will also be discussed.

Green polymer nanocomposites referred to as completely biodegradable, renewable, environmentally friendly, and benign materials, have received a surge of attention to promote sustainable development. Polymer nanocomposites, where nanomaterials are used for reinforcement, possess a large interfacial area per volume, and the intervals between the filler nanoparticles and polymer matrix are significantly short. Molecular interactions between the filler particles and the matrix, therefore, provide polymer nanocomposites with novel characteristics that ordinary polymers or conventional macrocomposites do not possess. However, nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanofilms, nanofibers, nanoflakes, etc., in the form of nanocomposites may cause serious health hazards and pollute the environment severely. While the number of review articles on fundamental and applied research work of polymer nanocomposites is noteworthy, this review focuses more in depth on the applications of safe and green polymer nanocomposites in the automotive and packaging industries. The particular focus has been to examine and investigate in detail the initial and contemporaneous trends, status, and perspectives of green and safe polymer nanocomposites in the automotive and packaging industries. Background characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, potentiality, prospects, and opportunities of green polymer nanocomposites suitable for automotive and packaging industries have been addressed. The ultimate goal is to have a profound understanding of the structure-property relationship of green polymer nanocomposites to overcome existing limitations for automotive and packaging applications.

Skin is the largest non–parenchymal organ of the human body. It constitutes a natural barrier against pathogens and harmful environmental exposures and contributes to the human body's homeostasis. Conditions affecting the skin range from infections and injury to autoimmune diseases and cancer. Herbs have been used to treat dermatological conditions for a long time. Traditional approaches to delivering herbs to the skin include ointments, gels, creams, and lotions. However, poor lipophilicity or hydrophilicity in most herbal preparations results in limited bioavailability and poor penetration, restricting their effectiveness. Nanotechnology-based approaches have major potential, showing more promising results in enhancing transdermal penetration than traditional approaches. This review article summarizes such advances and sheds light on future directions in using nanotechnology-based strategies.

With the ever-growing importance of green technology, the utilization of inorganic metal oxide nanoparticles and their nanofluids against microorganisms garnered more attention than organic metal oxides in recent years. Therefore, using safer, energy and cost-effective natural raw materials, stabilizing agents, and solvents are the fundamental considerations of the greener process. Due to their unique properties, larger surface area to volume ratio, higher stability and selective toxicity towards microbial pathogens, ZnO, TiO2 and silver nanoparticles are considered environmentally friendly and cost-effective antimicrobial agents. Furthermore, amine-based silica nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes are used for the carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide separation. The review mainly focuses on the green synthesis of the various nanoparticles to form nanofluids and their application in environmental remediation. In this light, the current paper briefly summarizes the preparation methods and the prospective environmental remediation applications of various nanofluids in the field of microorganisms controlling mechanisms, wastewater treatment methods and harmful gaseous removal methods.