PHARMACOLOGICAL AND NANOBIOTECHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF GYMNEMA SYLVESTRE

Gymnemasylvestrecommonly knownGurmar orsugar destroyer, belonging to the family Asclepiadaceae, is a slow-growing,woody climberdistributed throughout India, traditionally used in Ayurvedic system of medicine forthe treatment of several diseases such diabetes, jaundice,urinary complaints, chronic cough, stomach problems, breathing troubles, malaria and snakebites. The present work was planned to investigate phytochemical profiling and green synthesis of silver nanoparticles usingGymnemasylvestre.The phytochemical assessment of stem and leaf extracts of Gymnemasylvestre revealed the presence of important phytocompounds such as alkaloids, carbohydrates, cardiac glycosides,flavonoids, phenols, proteins, saponins,steroids,tannins and terpenoids.Saponin was found in all the sample extract.Aqueous stem extractof Gymnemasylvestrewas utilized for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles. UV-Vis spectrophotometric studyexhibited absorbance peak at 419 nm that measures the reduction ofsilver nitrate tosilver nanoparticles based on optical properties called surface plasmon resonance. FT-IR study of silver nanoparticles showed the presence of specific molecular functional groups such as alkenes, amines, amides, alcohols, phenols, aromatic and halo compounds that acts as capping and stabilizing agents for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles.XRD pattern analysis suggested that the crystalline nature of silver ions and crystalline size of silver nanoparticles of39.5 nm by Scherrers formula. The presence of this phytoconstituent suggested vital medicinal featuresof theplant and their importancein synthesizing and stabilizing silver nanoparticles.