Biosurfactant assisted silver nanoparticle synthesis: A critical analysis of its drug design aspects

Abstract

Silver nanoparticles exhibit wide dimensional antimicrobial and antifungal properties and therefore they are preferred for their applications in medical and cosmetics sector. They are synthesized by physical, chemical and biochemical methods. Biochemical methods are the best technique because of their non-toxic and energy efficient nature and hence are alternatives for the production of silver nanoparticles. One of the biochemical methods proposed in this work is the use of microbial surfactant for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles. The synthesis of surfactant was performed using Bacillus subtilis. The surfactant thus produced was analyzed by emulsification assay, oil spilling test, and hemolytic test. Silver nanoparticles synthesized from surfactant were observed by UV-Vis spectroscopy in the range of 400-600 nm. The surface plasmon resonance peak was observed at 410 nm corresponding to the peak of silver nanoparticles. The x-ray diffraction pattern showed an intense diffraction peak at with an average particle size of 14 nm. In silico drug designing of surfactin A synthetase C was performed using Schrö dinger software for identification of novel drugs. All the two identified ligands, leucine and lysine, exhibited docking with the target protein which shows their potential as drug molecules.