Green and ecofriendly reduction of graphene oxide by amino acids obtained from M. cymbalaria and its qualitative and quantitative analysis by HPTLC technique

Abstract

Extensive development of graphene for industrial applications is mostly dependent on the availability of efficient and economical technologies that allow the preparation and manipulation of this material on a wide scale. In order to create the advancement of simple one-step synthesis of reduced graphene oxide (RGO), plant extracts have been employed in the recent studies. This investigation involves a cheap, safe, and environmentally green reduction through the fruit extract of Momordica cymbalaria (M. cymbalaria) for the upscale production of reduced graphene oxide. The phytochemical and high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) analysis were utilized for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of bioactive component present in M. cymbalaria and to find out the targeted phytoconstituent which trigger the reduction of graphene oxide. The finding reveals that the amino acids present in the selected plant play an important role in the bioreduction. HPTLC studies further revealed the presence of L-glutamine, L-tryptophan, L-methionine, and L-valine in the methanolic extract of Momordica cymbalaria which are quantified to be 533.3 µg/mL, 1151 µg/mL, 711.0 µg/mL, and 274.1 µg/mL, respectively. This study reports the identification of amino acid through HPTLC for the first time and also its application in the bioreduction of graphene oxide. The physical and chemical properties of the graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide obtained through ecofriendly greener method were investigated using UV-Visible spectral studies and characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, and TEM studies. The bioreduced GO showed remarkable antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli, with zone of inhibition 13 mm and 11 mm, respectively. Through this investigation, it is comprehensive to claim the involvement of amino acids in the bioreduction of graphene oxide which will be further investigated for its environmental applications.

Graphical abstract