Investigation of Physicochemical and Cytotoxic Potential of Ocimum basilicum Leaf Extract Mediated Magnetite Nanoparticles: In Vitro

In this report, an environment friendly and cost effective green synthesis method of magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) was introduced. Fe3O4 NPs were successfully synthesized by green route using Ocimum basilicum leaf extract. The structural investigation of Fe3O4 NPs using X-Ray diffraction technique revealed the cubic crystallinity with Fd3m space group, which was confirmed with an aid of Rietveld refinement. No secondary phases (such as Fe2O3 and FeO) were observed, which confirmed the high purity of synthesized Fe3O4 NPs. The characteristics peak at 3320 cm−1 displayed the phenolic constituents of Ocimum basilicum leaf extract and peak at 665 cm−1 illustrated the Fe–O bending, which confirmed the formation of Fe3O4 NPs. Ocimum basilicum leaf extract mediated Fe3O4 NPs possess spherical morphology with an average particle size ~ 15 nm as depicted by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The magnetic potential of Ocimum basilicum leaf extract mediated Fe3O4 NPs was also carried out by using a vibration sample magnetometer (VSM), which revealed the superparamagnetic behavior of Fe3O4 NPs. Cytotoxicity of the as-synthesized Fe3O4 NPs nanoparticles was also examined on the human breast cancer cell line, which illustrated the efficacy of the synthesized nanoparticles with a low value of IC50 (~ 17.75 µg/ml). The results displayed the potent anticancerous effect of Ocimum basilicum leaf extract capped Fe3O4 NPs, which made these nanoparticles suitable for a drug-loaded vehicle for the drug delivery system for biomedical applications.