Evaluation of phytosynthesised silver nanoparticles from leaf extracts of Leucas aspera and Hyptis suaveolens and their larvicidal activity against malaria, dengue and filariasis vectors

Abstract The present study deals with the green synthesis of silver nanoparticle from the aqueous leaf extracts of Leucas aspera and Hyptis suaveolens as reducing agent and to investigate the larvicidal activity of synthesized silver nanoparticles. The synthesized silver nanoparticles were characterized by Ultraviolet and visible absorption spectroscopy (UV), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray spectroscopy (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and High-resonance transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) analysis. The nanoparticles are spherical, hexagonal, triangular and polyhedral in shape and the size of the Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) of L. aspera was found to be in the range of 7 – 22 nm and AgNPs of H. suaveolens was 5–25 nm. Larvicidal bioassay with synthesized AgNPs synthesized from L. aspera and H. suaveolens extract, showed 100% mortality at 10 mg/L against Aedes aegypti , Anopheles stephensi and Culex quinquefasciatus with LC 50 of 4.02, 4.69, 5.06 mg/L and LC 90 of 11.22, 12.09, 12.74 mg/L and LC 50 of 4.63, 4.04, 3.52 mg/L and LC 90 of 12.07, 10.99, 09.61 respectively. These results suggest that the synthesized AgNPs of L. aspera and H. suaveolens have the potential to be used as an ideal eco-friendly agent for the control of the mosquito larvae.